


Free

by Fizzabel



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: As far as the maze and scorch are concerned, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I don't know how tags work on this, M/M, Newt is secretly sensitive, The Flare, They escape the maze but shit goes down outside of it, This goes fairly off plot, Thomas still has no clue wtf he's doing, newtmas - Freeform, some Fever Code spoilers but if you don't know what to look for you'll be fine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-06-15 04:42:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 62,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15405207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fizzabel/pseuds/Fizzabel
Summary: Thomas has been in the maze for some time now and things begin to... change. The maze is breaking, a new creature is appearing and everyone is dying! The answer to freedom seems to be a fleeting thing but a code and a slide ride later, the remaining gladers are flung into worse situations they could never have imagined.Nobody knows what will be around the next corner and Thomas unravels to be extremely untrustworthy, so what will the gladers do? Stick together as a unit, or will it be every man for themselves?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> My second attempt at writing a fic on this website. I'm more active on Wattpad, where this book also is. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing this! :)
> 
> (By the way once it's uploaded, smut is in chapter 22)

"You're a bloody idiot, Tommy." Newt said, smacking Thomas on the back of the head as he emerged from the maze when the walls opened.

Newt didn't really have any other need to be with him, so he immediately turned and headed towards the campfire for breakfast. Rubbing the back of his head, Thomas followed. He was absolutely starving; he didn't take any food into the maze overnight and didn't eat enough the previous day to last him through; and after all that, his night search came up fruitless once again.. But he refused to give up just yet.

He'd been in the glade a few weeks now, and had spent another three -non consecutive- nights in the maze, after the one he accidentally spent after being with Minho and Alby. Nobody could do it except him, so maybe the answer to getting out was to be found during the night, but so far not even a stone out of place had come up. The walls did move, but that was for the day runners to map out.

Strangely, it made a few of the gladers despise him; but as long as they didn't freak out on him like Ben had, then he didn't particularly care what they thought. "Looks like the shank lives to see another day! Minho called, jogging over to him. "Your ego big enough for ya, yet?"

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Oh slim it. Just because nobody else has the guts to do it instead, and I'm the only one not to klunk their pants at the thought of it."

Minho made a 'tsk' noise, but continued on past him to do his daily runs of the maze. Thomas got himself a plate of bacon and eggs and decided to sit beside Newt, one of the few people who didn't want permanently kick him out into the maze. "Hey, Tommy." He said with a slight smile.

"Hey. You're not sat with Alby?"

"Nah." Newt looked over his shoulder, seeing him talking to Minho. "All he ever talks about is the maze and it's doing my bloody head in."

"Nah, all those shanks ever talk about is the maze. Doing my bloody head in it is."

"Well that's fair." Thomas yawned and stood up. "I'm gonna.. go ask Minho if he wants to do a night tonight because he hasn't done it yet! The chicken."

"Hey, now I don't think that's a good idea and neither does he. He makes some good points; if you're not finding anything out there then there's no point to keep going. If the walls do their usual switching, why would you being here make that any different? All you're doing is tiring yourself out."

"But I haven't checked all the sections yet! If Minho isn't going to do it then who is? I only ask him to go because his memory is better, but it also gets really lonely hiding from grievers and running in the dark."

Newt sighed. "Listen, Tommy, there isn't no point searching for what can't be found. Ya hear me? It ain't worth your breath."

"I hear ya."

"Good that." Newt stood up and gave him a hard pat on the shoulder. "Just rest and try figuring it out like the rest of us- in the evening, in that box." Thomas felt like crap, so Newt gave him an apologetic smile and left, presumably to start his work.

~*~

Minho always gave Thomas the day off when he did his night runs, so he went and sat in his usual corner, against the wall, by the tree. There was no way in hell he'd have the energy to do a whole day of running; especially now that he'd had a plate of good food he was ready to collapse.

He was right. Thomas started sliding down the wall, and as soon as he hit the ground, he was asleep.

~*~

The sound of the walls closing for the night woke him up, the ground rumbling beneath and shaking him. The 'sun' was set now, so dinner would probably be soon since the runners would hopefully all be back. Thomas made a move to get up when he heard footsteps coming towards him.

Thomas thought it might be someone asking for a favour, so out of laziness he closed his eyes and pretended to still be asleep. The feet weren't heavy, nor were they taking long strides. Somebody stopped in front of him, placed a blanket over him, caressed his hair gently but only briefly, and turned back.

He opened his eyes, seeing the retreating figure of Newt. Newt... He'd been the one giving him blanket... And caressing his hair apparently, not that he minded the gesture.

To pretend he was still using it, he got up after a few minutes and went in search of the blond boy. His figure was so muscular for someone of his size and he acted tough, but his feet were so quiet you could mistake him for a child. Even Chuck thundered around the place on his stubby legs.

Newt was sat with Alby round the fire, seeming to be in a deep conversation with him, so Thomas didn't disturb him and sat with Chuck instead. "You been sleeping all day again?" Chuck asked before he'd even sat down.

Thomas just shrugged; he wasn't in the mood to argue with him. Chuck disapproved of the whole thing, thinking he was absolutely crazy to even think about going out at night let alone doing it. "Staying up all night is exhausting, Chuck, because while you try to map out the sections to see if they're different you're also running from grievers."

Chuck sighed. "Well at least you make it back every night, and I get to have your company in the evenings. I know you haven't gone much but I miss you each time."

Thomas smiled. "You think I want to be out there? I miss you too." Thomas put an arm around him. "I'll sleep with you tonight if you want? For a change." Chuck's eyes lit up and his face split into a wide smile.

"Greenie!" Alby called, waving him over.

Thomas groaned. "This can't be good, better go see what he wants." Alby was such an ass to him, he would disapprove of his breathing if he had the chance. Gally was worse.

He walked over to him, where he was sat with Minho and Newt. Newt had a scowl on his face; did the three of them argue? "What is it?" He asked, folding his arms.

"Greenie, you gotta quit this night running. It's a shuck suicide mission waiting to happen. One day you're not gonna come back through those walls." Thomas only rolled his eyes.

"Thomas, he's serious. I'm with him on this, you should just stick to going out in the day when it's safer with everyone else." Minho argued. "You've tried four times now and nothing is coming up! One of these days you're going to be trapped between two moving walls, going to be caught by a griever, something!"

Newt didn't say anything. "Well you can't exactly stop me. Besides, you never stopped after day three! Why should I!? After a couple hours it's not even that hard, your stamina keeps you going. I haven't even gone through a whole pattern yet."

"Don't you get it!?" Newt snapped, kicking Thomas' leg. "We're concerned about your wellbeing! We're not going to lose another glader, especially not someone like you! You bloody-"

"Slim it, Newt!" Alby grabbed his shoulder, then gently rubbed it to calm him down. "There's punishments we can give you, Greenie, someone will bring you back kicking and screaming and we'll throw you in the slammer to make sure you don't go out again. The first time we called you crazy, now we're calling you suicidal."

Thomas glared at the three of them, then unfolded his arms. "Fine." He spat, "I'm going to bed."

Chuck saw the anger in his eyes and got up to quickly follow behind him. He tried talking to him to find out the matter once they were in their sleeping bags, but just like every other attempt, Thomas ignored him.


	2. Chapter 1

The next day, Thomas wasn't wanting to talk to anyone, more pissed than anything else. He ran with Minho, branching off to search his own section of the maze, cutting down vines and noting which walls had changed.

After a couple of hours, he stopped running to take a break. He turned round to double check which corner he'd come, but.. the vines were gone.  _I could've sworn I just cut some down..._ He thought to himself. He turned the other way, but there weren't any on the walls that way.

Walking slowly, Thomas went back round the corner he came and noticed the vines were gone from there too. Did he really forget to cut any down? If he went any further he'd probably get lost; so, to make sure he got back in time and didn't annoy Alby, he started his way back.

Suddenly, a deafening grinding sound started all around him. Thomas covered his ears as the walls began to shake in place and... and  _move!?_ All the walls around Thomas began to change, forward backward and through each other as if they had invisible slots to pass through.

The ground shook from it all and ivy fell off the walls. Stones rained down, most of the bits of rubble but some larger chunks too.

Thomas ran.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, but he just wasn't fast enough. A rock fell and hit the side of his head, sending him to the ground. For a moment he lay watching the world spin, but he closed his eyes, unconscious.

~*~

Newt wandered the Glade, doing the usual duties of checking everything was in order; it was boring, but the garden had been tended to and now there was nothing else to do, no exhausted to go bother and Alby was busy. Checking the kitchen, he discovered Frypan wasn't there so he reached up to steal a biscuit.. when the walls started moving.

 _The doors can't be closing.. But it's the middle of the day!_ Newt thought, shoving a biscuit in his pocket and running outside. Other gladers had already gathered to watch, but the weirdest part was the doors being open; it was the walls inside, but the doorways stayed open as normal.

Within minutes, two runners came back, Phil and Michael. "The walls are moving!" Michael shouted, coming to a quick halt in front of Alby and tried catching his breath. "We got worried the doors would be closed, or we'd get lost so we ran back as soon as it started..."

More minutes passed but the walls eventually stopped and the peaceful silence returned. It was still only late afternoon, and according to his watch, they had an hour before the walls closed. Only four out of their nine current runners had returned, but Newt and the others assumed they decided to keep running rather than hoping they weren't lost. Newt just hoped Thomas would make it back safely.. "Newt! Gally called, coming over to him.

"What is it?" Newt grumbled, looking a different way.

"What's with the walls moving?"

"How the shuck am I meant to know? I'm not a runner anymore, I just watched like everyone else. Go ask one of the runners who came back already." Newt hated how he treated Thomas, so he tended to be very blunt with him.

Gally tsked and walked off, presumably to find one of the runners. Newt walked into the forest, making sure he went back far enough that nobody would find him too easily. He sat down on the grass and sighed, resting his elbows on his knees and putting his chin in his hands. Over the past week or so, and with Thomas' ego boost, Newt had grown strong feeling for the teen that he couldn't explain.

His enchanting eyes.. Soft hair despite running all the time.. His enthusiasm to leave.. And his  _smile!_ Newt whacked his leg.  _No!_ "Bloody hell..." He whispered to himself.

What did he expect? He was totally gay for Thomas, there wasn't any point of hiding it from himself; but really, you couldn't expect fifty boys to live together in harmony without a relationship or two.

It was strange, though, when Thomas had first been pulled out the box, a huge wave of familiarity and affection hit Newt so hard he almost cried. Since, he'd been trying to figure out what it was, or if he could remember anything about him.

He was interrupted by Minho calling his name, presumably looking for him. Newt stood and quickly ran out the forest, smacking right into Minho. "Shuck it, Minho!" He yelled, rubbing where their heads collided. "What is it? You find something."

Minho shook his head. "Is Thomas back yet? We got all the other runners accounted for expect that shank. Don't think he got caught up in the maze, do you? Isaac got hit by a rock so the medjacks are looking him over, but thankfully it didn't hit his head.

Panic shot up Newt's spine and he briefly stuttered. "N-no, if he's here then I haven't seen him. What happened out there!? All we saw was the bloody walls moving."

"That's exactly it though, the vines were falling and walls were going  _through each other._ Stones were falling from who knows where because I certainly didn't see no crumbling walls or cracks in them. I checked on my way back!"

"Well I'm sure he'll be back before the walls close. If he ain't, then it's not like he can't fend for himself out there."

~*~

When Thomas woke up, the sky was black. There was creaking, squelching, mechanical sounds coming from nearby.  _Grievers._ Had they not found him yet? Was he dead already? Was he taken somewhere by them?

Slowly, he sat up. No grievers were in the corridor he currently sat in, but there was definitely at least one just round one of the corners. Thomas quickly scuffled to the nearest wall, trying to feel for ivy or some loose rocks but he couldn't feel or see any. Even up the top, the walls were completely bare, like a clean slab of stone.

He felt where the rock hit his head and he hissed in pain; it felt rather large, and blood had dried in his hair as well as down the side of his head but it stopped by his ear, a patch on the ground.

Thomas couldn't climb the walls, he couldn't throw stones.. Even though he knew the doors were closed, he didn't know how he'd even make it back to them at this rate, and staying in one spot had a very high chance of sudden death. Running and avoidance was an option, he did that with Minho, but he was already tired and he wouldn't last the night.

He had two knives in his pockets, so he pulled them out and headed down the corridor. He heard the griever before he saw it, but since it wasn't a junction, Thomas' only choice was to turn and try the other direction, or try and get past this one. "Hey ugly!" He yelled, the griever turning round and screeching at him.

It pushed itself off the wall and ran at him at full force, mouth agape and pinchers at the ready. Thomas waited... waited...  _Jump!_

Thomas leapt to the side and ducked under one of its legs before running on ahead and darting round the right corner. If he kept to following the right wall, he'd eventually reach the cliff and he knew every pattern back from memory. He just had to make it.

Dodging left and right, fighting out of a griever's grip, clothes torn from near hit and misses, bruised skin, bloody hands from scraping the wall, scrapes all up his arms from hitting the walls every sharp turn he took... But he made it. He made it to the cliff.

The sun was rising behind them, high enough that Thomas knew the doors would be open... But the walls hadn't moved again, and the grievers were still here. If he hung around too long, his friends would get attacked too. The grievers weren't going anywhere, a whole swarm them starting to surround him, forcing him to stand on the ledge.

He looked up at the walls, desperately looking for something, anything! A lone piece of ivy, a crack in the wall, a small hole to use as a ledge, a doorway!? It was hopeless, there was only one way left to go. Dead ahead. It was jump to his death or run straight into death's mouth.

With a loud cry, Thomas pushed himself forward with the wall and ran straight into the group of awaiting grievers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad to see some people are reading this, hiya! :D


	3. Chapter 2

Newt was woken by someone pounding on his door, yelling for him to wake up and come outside. Jolting up, Newt only had time to briefly look at his watch before running outside.

Everyone was stood looking at the walls, and Newt wondered how they hadn't woken him, but.. the walls weren't open. Minho and Alby were stood by the small window in the north wall, so Newt ran over to them. "Why aren't they open!?" He called.

"We're not sure." Alby sighed, stepping back. "But we can still hear grievers out there."

"And so's Thomas." Minho added. "I've searched this entire glade and there's no sign of him anywhere."

Newt paled. "But it's day time, the grievers should be gone."

"And from what I can see," Minho continued, "the walls are still empty, it's like the rocks never fell! Something's going on and I don't like whatever it is."

"Well.. What is going on? As the runners' keeper you're the most likely one to know." Minho shrugged.

Newt looked through the small window to get look for himself. The walls were completely bare, not a spec of dust out of place. A figure came running towards it and Newt gasped. "It's Thomas!" His heart started racing when he got closer, his entire being filled with worry.

Thomas was covered in cuts and scratches, his clothes bloody. His expression was one of fear, anger, and a mixture of confusion with utter despair. He fell to his knees and put his face in his hands. It broke Newt's heart; he must have been hoping the door was open and he could run in to safety, but he was shut out the other side.

He looked up, seeing Newt peering through. He got up and limped towards the window, placing his hand on the cool glass, creating a misty outline from it. His mouth opened to speak, and he must have been yelling, but Newt could barely hear him. "Why are they closed!?" He cried, looking up to try and see if there was an opening or something.

"I don't know!" Minho and Alby winced beside him. "We'll find a way to get you in!"

"There's grievers everywhere!" He looked over his shoulder to see if any were coming, his chest heaving from running so much. "The walls didn't move overnight, the ivy is all gone and so are all the rocks!"

Newt was about to reply when he screamed instead, falling backwards. Thomas had suddenly spat out blood onto the window and fell to the side, his fingers smearing the blood as he fell. Newt scrambled back up and looked through the window again, seeing a creature that.. What was that? That wasn't a griever.

It wasn't slimy like a griever, it looked as if it were made of human flesh, but it stood on all fours like a gorilla would stand. Its mouth hung open, and Newt could see its teeth; jagged shards of broken metal. A long, white metallic tail protruded from its lower back, the tip of it red with Thomas' blood. To top it all off, spikes covered its back and knuckles, and no doubt his toes too.

It gave Newt a long, hard stare; stabbed at the glass, then disappeared out of view. "No! Thomas! Newt screamed, "Tommy!"

"What's going on!?" Someone shouted, a group of gladers running over to the trembling who was already getting fussed by Minho and Alby.

"Th-there's something different out there! I've never seen anything like it- it's like a gorilla, but.. it doesn't have any hair. Its teeth looked like metal, and it was covered in spikes; a-and a tail, I don't really know what it was made of, but it was pure white, except the tip.. It stabbed Thomas, I think he's lying dead in front of this gate."

Everyone was quiet. Nobody knew what to say. There could be a dead glader on the other side of the wall and they had no way of getting to him. "How about we-" Suddenly the grounds shook violently and a couple boys fell over.

Rocks started falling from above them and immediately the three keepers began pushing everyone back, getting them out of harms way. The doors were opening, but a lot more violently than ever before.

Things were falling all over the glade, all pots and pans and jars falling off shelves in Frypan's kitchen, the pigs' trough fell over, and some of the boys couldn't stand properly.

Newt saw an opening in the door, seeing Thomas' body lying on the floor. Rocks fell all around him, and soon enough he'd probably be squished by them. Newt started to go forward but Alby grabbed his shoulder. "Are you mad!? You'll be squished!"

"Thomas is going to get squished if none of us try to bring him back in! Who knows if the doors are going to suddenly close, too?"

"Then I don't want you on the other side!"

"Too bad! You'd do it for Ben, so do it for him!" Alby looked physically hurt by that comment; they'd been best friends, he came up with him early in the maze, but..

Alby let him go and Newt tried dodging all the rocks, a couple stones hitting him but nothing to knock him down. Suddenly Thomas let out a blood curdling scream, making Newt stop dead in his tracks and almost trip over himself. Thomas' head snapped in his direction, his pupils so dilated that Newt couldn't see his iris anymore, but he just.. stared at him. He lifted a bloody hand in his direction, but then dropped it and his eyes closed.

Gaining his composure, Newt ran forward again and crouched beside his body, trying to pick him up. A large rock landed right beside them, about to topple onto Thomas' arm, but somebody pushed it away. "Alby's so gonna put you in the slammer for this." It was Minho, picking up Thomas under the arms. "Get his legs."

Newt did as he was told and the two managed to carry him back out unscathed, having to climb over one of the rocks. When they got out of range, they noticed a wall of them had started forming between them and the door, but even Chuck could just step over them.

The doors were finally open fully, and the ground stopped shaking. "No one is to go near any of the doors! Runners aren't going anywhere today, you will stay put until we figure out what's going on. Stay inside, that gorilla creature might be gone, but if it's prowling in the day time, it could come in here. Any questions, you come to us three."

~*~

Minho and Newt carried him into the homestead, letting the medjacks take over. "He needs the serum, his veins are going crazy." One of them said, sending the other one away.

Newt was thankful for his place in authority, using the opportunity to watch what was going on, but internally panicking that Thomas was even still alive. He screamed, he looked at him, but was that his dying moments? They certainly didn't notice him breathe when they carried him, but they also weren't exactly checking. The chances were slim for him, the serum might not work despite showing the same symptoms as a griever sting, but this... thing, was so different; so much more dangerous. Newt could live in hope.

~*~

Without seeming too clingy, Newt rarely left Thomas' bedside in the time he had to spare. Whether it was the extent of his other injuries, or if because this creature was different, Thomas hadn't been through the changing yet; and nobody had an explanation as to why. If he wasn't feeling any pain yet, or very little, there was much worse to come. "Newt," Alby said, leaning against the doorframe. "Someone broke a rule, need you to deal with him."

Newt nodded. "I'll be down in a moment." He was surprised Alby hadn't scolded him yet, but maybe he had a change of heart.

When Alby shut the door, Newt leant over and gently pressed his lips to Thomas' forehead as a soft kiss. "I'll be back in a bit, don't start your changing while I'm gone alright?" Thomas made a pained sound.

Newt replaced the cold cloth on his forehead and left the room, only glancing back once.


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise these chapters will start getting longer! I wrote this story over a long period of time so by the end of it I was much better at writing non-dialogue :D

Thomas felt... light. He tried to open his eyes, but all he could see was a grey mist; no maze, no faces, no homestead, just.. mist, swirling around even though he felt no wind. It was like he was staring into the eye of a storm cloud, but unable to feel its affects.

Nothing was happening. He just lay there, floating. Voices echoed in the air, voices that he didn't recognise nor could distinguish the actual words. Some were high pitched like a child, others deeper like an adult male. He tried to reach out and grab them, but he was just grabbing desperately at the air as they started to fade away.

Soon, they disappeared altogether and his vision darkened... then glowed red... then came the pain.

~*~

Newt was inside the map room with Minho, helping him with the new maze layout when a wail made Minho jump and his pen slid across the page. "Shuck it! Who's making such a stupid noise? Is Thomas going through the changing now?"

"I'll check!" Newt cried before Minho could interject, running out the room and sprinting across to the homestead where other gladers were trying to get in to see. "Out of the way, shanks!" He shouted over their yelling, pushing his way through the crowd.

Chuck was stood outside. "Alby isn't letting me in, he says something weird is up with him."

Newt frowned and opened the door just wide enough for him to squeeze through, not letting Chuck see anything. Newt knew what was wrong immediately. This was no ordinary changing. Instead of being covered in veins and skin a sickly green, Thomas' skin was red. A glowing red; the type of glow of when you put your thumb over a torch. Veins covered almost his entire body, but they were black; whenever his mouth closed after a scream of agony, blood would bubble in his mouth and dribble out; his teeth were stained with it, you could see them as he gritted them together to try and fight the pain. "What.. What is this?" Newt asked in disbelief.

"Not a clue. We suspect it's from that new creature you described, even though he's been stung my grievers as well; but something has happened in his body to make this happen. It's the best bet for now." Alby said after a particularly loud scream so Newt could hear him.

Newt sat on the floor beside Alby, head near his knee. "Are the medjacks trying anything? I know they've used the serum but clearly it's triggered some sort of change, just not the one we wanted."

"They're trying to pretend it's a normal changing. Laissez-faire, my friend."

"So there's nothing we can do but wait it out?" Alby nodded.

"I'll leave you with him." Alby gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I can tell you like to spend time with him." Newt felt his cheeks heat up and he turned the other way.

Thomas let out another scream, his hands grabbing fistfuls of the covers he lay on top of. A medjack place a new cold cloth on his head, but it didn't do much to calm his growing fever. Beads of sweat covered his skin, his clothes slightly damp from it.

Newt put his hand over Thomas' and that seemed to calm his ever so slightly, loosening the fist he was touching. "I'm here for you Tommy." Newt said, voice drowned out by his scream. "To the bitter end."

~*~

Four days had passed and the screams continued. The usual changing only lasted a day or two and they'd wake up on the third, but Thomas had just been screaming.. for four days straight. On the bright side, his skin reduced its glow and was turning the green they knew much better, his veins were their normal colours, and he no longer drooled blood.

All the gladers were sick of it, even Newt at this point. Those who didn't like Thomas wished the doors hadn't opened and he died over there, but others like Chuck and Minho, Chuck especially, were grateful he was sticking around. Alby said he couldn't care less, and Gally wanted to throw him out there while they still had the chance.

There was one thing on everyone's mind; why hadn't the grievers killed him? Or the creature? Granted, they didn't know Thomas' story of what he'd been doing all day and night stuck in the maze, he never got to explain himself at the window.

With no signs of the creature, the runners continued their jobs a couple days ago, quite grateful for the rest, but now they ran in pairs in case of finding the creature. However.. it didn't help. Only five returned that night; two were found dead together, and Minho was losing blood and fast.

Alby had been the one to run out and carry him back, finding the same back wound as Thomas had; the one from the new creature. This confirmed their thoughts of it coming out in the day, which made things so much more dangerous than they already were, so Alby was going to have a meeting with Newt and Gally to decide on whether they should stop the runners from running anymore, to conserve numbers.

The supplies for the new month arrived, which had two new needles inside that contained purple liquid. They came with a note, labelled 'Mourner', so that's the name they gave to the creature. The medjacks gave it to both Thomas and Minho, and Thomas seemed to calm down from it, but Minho was still in the unconscious stage as his skin began to glow red.

Gally theorised that the creature was targeting the leaders one by one, and maybe he was right. How long until Newt, Alby, Winston, Frypan, or the other keepers got attacked? As long as nobody left the glade, and nothing came in, they should fine... Hopefully.

~*~

It was day five, and Thomas had finally stopped screaming.. while Minho had just started. Some people felt like they were going stir crazy from it. Normal changes seemed like nothing in comparison, this Mourner was ten times worse; the screams were just so _loud._

Minho had never been one to feel pain, so the runners were extremely cautious leaving each morning, but most of them refused to go anymore. "Alby, I'm going to sit with Thomas for a while."

Alby gave him a dismissive wave, not really caring since he visited at least once a day already. His screams were etched into his mind, the pain on his face carved into his eyes, the feeling of his veins bumped up imprinted on his fingers. Looking at him almost gave Newt physical pain.

He was just heading upstairs when a medjack came out the room. "Oh, Newt. Great timing."

"Why? Is something wrong with Minho?" They both winced as they heard another shriek.

"No, Thomas is awake, and he's asking for you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So happy to see people are reading this, thank you guys so much <3


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus sorry guys!! I'm sorry I left you waiting a week for this one! I'm going to copy the schedule I have for another fic I'm writing (Detroit: Become Human if you're interested) and I'll update Monday Friday :)
> 
> Won't forget next time!

Thomas opened his eyes slowly, his head feeling like it had been cracked open. The room was dimly lit by the glow of the artificial night outside, but he still squinted, feeling a sharp pain between his eyes.

He sat up, putting a hand to his head and gasped at the feeling of his back. It felt like somebody use an ice cream scooper and took out a massive chunk, leaving him bare. A medjack was fast asleep in a chair at a desk, arms folded on it and his head resting on them, snoring lightly.

Thomas groaned at the memories, closing his eyes. It was like he watched them in third person, like a movie. There were two young boys, playing together.. "Newt.." He said out loud, making the medjack jump awake.

"Y-you're up!" They yawned. "You couldn't wait until a nicer time of day, could ya?" They stood up and walked over to him. "What hurts? Lie down you shank, you'll hurt yourself."

Something snapped in his mind and Thomas began refusing profusely, trying to stay upright despite the medjack pushing on his chest, but not very hard in fear of hurting him. "I have to see Newt! Let me see him! Where is he!?" Thomas cried, unable to control himself.

"If you just lie down then I'll get him! Now slim it, most of the gladers are sleeping."

Thomas seemed to agree with the deal and lay back down, wincing again at the strange feeling in his back. The medjack made sure he stayed down, then left the room, but quickly returned with a worried looking Newt. "You can leave us." He ordered, the medjack nodding and seemed almost relieved, presumably going to his bed somewhere. "Tommy, what's wrong? Do you remember something?"

Thomas sat up again. "Come here."

Newt sat on the edge of the bed, opening his mouth to speak but Thomas grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him forward, quite painfully smashing their lips together. Newt's hands flew to Thomas' legs, going to push himself away but Thomas was adamant on keeping him there. In that case... Newt returned the kiss, closing his eyes and leaning forward. This is what he'd wanted for ages, ever since Thomas came up into the glade, and the moment was almost perfect.

Thomas' grip on shoulders finally began to lessen, his hands trailing down to Newt's lower back instead. Newt took the signal, shuffling closer to Thomas' body and snaking his own hands into Thomas' hair, grabbing fistfuls of it. He licked along Thomas' bottom lip, gaining himself access to his mouth.

When Newt let out a soft moan, Thomas finally registered what they were doing and hastily pulled away, his face flushing a deep crimson. "I'm so sorry-" He blurted, not really sure what to say or do.

"Tommy..." Newt blushed too, pulling back his hands but not taking his eyes off him. "Bloody hell... What did you remember?"

"We.. We've been friends, since we were kids.. I don't.." He grunted and put a hand to his head. "You and I, we went to school together, a-and everyone else was there. We got closer to each other, more than the others, and.." Thomas frowned. "Yeah, we were definitely together.

"I've just had a sense of familiarity with you since I got here, and attraction too, but I had no idea where it was coming from because I barely knew you and I still don't even know despite remembering some stuff. I just remember us dating, I just- I couldn't not-"

Newt cut him off with a brief kiss. "Slim it, okay? I like you too, Tommy, clearly. I'm not crazy enough to put myself through changing to remember our old relationship, especially not the one you just went through, but I trust you and I believe you." He offered out his hand which Thomas took, squeezing it lovingly.

"Do you think the other gladers are going to say anything? Should we tell them?"

Newt shrugged. "Is that really important? With the amount of time I've spent with you they all probably bloody suspect it by now. I sure know Alby does; but really, we're fifty guys and all of us are going to not want guys? To our memory we've never seen a girl, but somehow all of us are meant to not find men attractive? Hopefully when I see one I don't change my mind." Newt flashed a cheeky smile. "But if we were together before the maze, I don't think I need to worry about that."

"I guess.. Maybe it's my memory, everyone's probably different now. A couple guys that I see around never approved of us very much, so I wonder if that'll pass on."

"We can discuss this later, you need to rest up properly, let your brain mull it over and maybe you can get through one night without screaming the glade down." There was one down the corridor and Thomas looked alarmed. "That's Minho, I'll explain tomorrow if nobody else does. A lot has happened."

"Alright.." Thomas lay down on his side. "You need to get some sleep too."

"Yeah, I'll try." Newt stood up and pulled the covers up to Thomas' chin. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night.."

~*~

In the morning, a medjack was giving Thomas a once over to see what he was capable of. "Bed rest, and lots of it." Thomas sighed. "We don't know what this Mourner did to your system, you might collapse down dead tomorrow for all we know and if you're not here then we can't monitor you. If we're going to get data from anywhere, it's from you because you're awake and talking. Minho will eventually, but he's still glowing."

"Glowing..!? What do you mean _glowing!?_ What happened!?"

He hadn't expected a lecture, but that's what he got. They described the doors closing for the day, the arguing that took place before the doors opened; the rocks falling, Newt trying to grab him, Minho helping, having to move the rocks, and the runners being cautious. Then his skin glowing red, the black veins, spewing blood, extreme fever, and the new fever called 'Mourner' that was for both himself and Minho. Apart from all that, the walls were back to acting normal, and a greenie was due tomorrow.

Thomas wasn't bored, but not long after the little lecture he dozed off until someone entering the room disturbed him. It was Chuck. "They told me I couldn't come see you yet but nobody could stop me this time." Thomas chuckled and Chuck smiled, giving him a hug.

"I think I'm alright now." Thomas said, squeezing him tightly.

"Good that."

"How are things without me? I heard Minho got struck, he's screaming away but apparently not as much as I did, there's a Mourner on the loose, and the walls haven't acted up since that weird day. What's everyone doing? The place must be in shambles."

"Panicking, quite honestly. The cowardly shanks." Thomas could see fear in Chuck's eyes, he was trying to impress him. "But the beast killed two runners, and now that we all know it roams in the day nobody really ventures far out into the maze, all the runners are scared to leave."

"What.. What does the Mourner look like?"

Chuck blinked at him like he was an idiot. "You didn't see it?"

"It got me in the back, Chuck. I thought I was just stabbed by a regular griever until I was told my body glowed red."

"Well.. This probably isn't accurate, only Newt and the now dead runners actually saw it, but he only told Minho and Alby the description. I guess the runners too, thinking about it.."

"Just tell me Chuck."

Chuck enthusiastically explained its features, using his arms to be its claws, waving his ass around for its tail, and roaring loudly. It made Thomas laugh. "His teeth are knives!" He bared his teeth. "Metal in its knuckles!" He punched the air. "Loud as a lion!"

He roared again, but the mood quickly fell when the door opened. "It's no laughing matter, Chuck." Newt scolded with a stern expression.

Thomas looked over at him, still with a smile on his face. "Let him make light of the situation, it's nice for a change. He's simply telling me what my attacker looked like."

Newt's expression softened. "Fine."

Thomas looked at his watch, then seemed to make a decision in his head. "Unless something dire happens, don't none of you dare wake me up! ... Unless you have food." They both nodded. "Good that."


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told ya I'd start the new schedule ;) 
> 
> Next chapter coming Monday! :D

Minho had shut up by the next morning, so Thomas decided to pay him a visit and look at his back, since he couldn't get a proper view of his own even in a mirror. With Minho on his side, Thomas couldn't tell what was.. Actually, it was pretty bad. It was like a spear head had been struck in, then twisted it circles to maximise damage; done with speed rather than precision.

What kind of creature could do some much damage? Not that the grievers weren't also capable, but their stabs looked so much more precise and clean.. In one single blow Minho had lost a good chunk of his back, but who knew if Thomas' looked the same.

Alby walked in on him, clearing his throat to grab Thomas' attention. "Hey, greenbean."

Thomas looked over his shoulder. "Please stop calling me that."

"What's up with Newt? He's all giddy. I heard you asked to see him a couple nights ago when you woke up, you remember anything?"

Thomas nodded. "Yeah, loads of stuff with him, and I.. I just had to tell him; you know what I mean, right?" Alby shrugged, though he understood. "But yeah, other stuff too."

"Should I call a gathering?" He nodded again. "Then be at the hall in five." Alby turned, now leaving the room.

"Gathering..? What for?" Minho groaned. "Oh hey Thomas.. You doing okay?"

"Minho! You're awake earlier than expected."

"I am?" He groaned again. "I feel like a pile of klunk. You feel like this too?"

"I did a couple days ago, you get over it fairly quickly. We're calling a gathering because of the things I remember. What about you? Anything?"

"Yeah... If I had the strength you would not be conscious right now."

Thomas felt guilty, but he understood. "I don't blame you.. I blame myself for thinking like I did. Do you want us to wait so you can speak as well?"

Minho shook his head. "We'll just gather tomorrow, there's probably not anything you won't say anyway. It's all your fault right now." He rolled onto his other side with a wince of pain, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Don't worry, it'll feel better tomorrow."

~*~

Alby only gathered the keepers, not wanting anything too big going public just yet. Thomas stood in the centre, all the others in seats in a semi circle. "Split it greenbean, what you got for us?" Alby leant forward in his seat.

"Okay, well.. For one thing we've all known each other, been close friends, since we were kids. Everyone! People I haven't even met because they died, everyone who's ever entered this glade knew everyone else before coming up." Thomas eyed Newt across the room. "We went to some special school, no other students that I can remember, but we were all put there because of something to do with our brains. What, I don't actually know right now.

"I helped make this maze, I helped design it. I remember trying to stop people bringing you here, I knew you'd all come but I didn't know the order or anything. Maybe it was random. I.. I just watched, all of you on tiny screens, the bugs you see in the trees.

"WICKED is definitely behind it all, and they've kept us separated from our families for years because something is very, very wrong. I don't know what exactly, but it's a test. This whole place is a shuck test. There's.. there's a code, or something like that to get out! We just have to find that code, and where to put it."

"A test?" Newt raised an eyebrow, "A test how? For what?"

Thomas shrugged. "I don't know, but there is a way out of this place, but not through some magic door that can be found by running. It's more complicated than that."

"So.. how do we figure out this code?"

"Again, I don't know. I just know that there is one of some sort."

"Well, I guess the runners will begin looking closer at the walls then." Alby said.

"I don't trust it." Winston spoke up, "I don't trust him."

"Oh don't you be like Gally-"

"I'm not, I'm just saying that Thomas has been in the glade just gone a month, he's spent three nights in the maze that he left unscathed, and in the fourth he meets this monster that hasn't been seen once in two years!? I'm beginning to think this isn't any old coincidence."

"Up until this point nothing has happened." Newt spat. "Who's to say it's particularly difficult to stay in the maze overnight? The few who tried all failed-" Newt choked up, but quickly gained his composure. "But who's to say Thomas is just stronger than us!? Faster than us? This could have happened any month!"

"I suppose no greenie coming up in the box is normal too, huh? Just had to happen the month after Thomas arrives!?"

"Slim it you two!" Alby shouted, standing up. "Frypan, you have any input?"

Frypan gave a nonchalant shrug. "Just because he's got memory of designing this place, doesn't change who he is now, does it? Unless he has something he's hiding, then I think we have nothing to worry about. I'm neutral."

"Winston, you oppose, what do you suggest to do exactly?"

"Lock him in the slammer. It keeps us safe from anything else he might conjure up in that maze to come after us. Stop his stupid antics out in the maze."

"Newt, you obviously disagree with Winston, so what do you propose we do?"

"Leave him alone! We have no evidence whatsoever that Thomas brought this Mourner in. Like grievers they appeared and when the first got stung they sent up a cure in the next supply box. We continue as normal."

"Okay, then hands up for Winston." Only Winston raised his hand. "Well, it's settled then. We leave Thomas alone and tomorrow when the walls open we start looking for the code."

Alby dismissed them and Thomas headed out, trying to avoid the keepers but the medjack caught his arm. "Hang a minute, I need to tend to your back, Thomas. You'll probably have to wander around shirtless today, to let it breathe."

Thomas' eyes flickered towards Newt who had a completely flat face, probably just pulling it off. "Alright."

They returned to the homestead and went upstairs to one of the bedrooms. He'd been allowed the bed until he was better, so Newt had been kicked out but he'd offered his own to begin with and a medjack gave up his for Minho.

Thomas' shirt stuck to his skin from sweat, having to peel it off him like a piece of leather. It appeared his temperature hadn't gone down, so a shirt really was bad for him, it could infect the wound and that was much harder to treat.

His wound was cleaned, and then tugged a little which made Thomas flinch. "Sorry. Still too early for stitches because sweat will just get into it either way, and we don't exactly have the equipment or ability to make you colder rather than fan you all day with our hands; so no shirt until then, okay? Try not to fall in mud or something stupid."

Thomas laughed. "I'm sure I can do that. Can I run, at least?" The medjack shook their head. "Then what am I supposed to do all day?"

"Rest."

~*~

Thomas stared longingly out the window, wanting to go back out to the maze and find the creature that attacked him. With two runners dead and a few not wanting to run, only five were going out. Three whole sections at least would not be explored today, and Thomas wanted to do all of them, he could do them overnight too because he knew what tomorrow's pattern would be.

He could smell lunch cooking, so Thomas got up to leave to get some when Newt came in with exactly that. "Hey Tommy, how you feeling? You okay?"

Thomas smiled, "I'm fine. Are there any double beds in the glade?"

Newt frowned at him. "None that I know of. Want to make one or something?" Thomas shook his head.

"When I'm able to sleep on the ground with a shirt again, you're sleeping near me, alright? Does mean you'll have to give up your bed."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, Tommy." He held out the lunch, also with his own smile now.

"Good that." Thomas took it and began feasting happily.

Newt sat beside him, and hesitantly reached out, touching Thomas' chest; his fingers felt like feathers, making Thomas shiver. "It just feels different with you.." He murmured, spreading his fingers out so his palm was flat against his chest.

Thomas put his food down, one of his hands going into Newt's hair. Newt peeked up at him through his lashes, his young face making him look like a lost child.

He shuffled closer, one hand going to Thomas' thigh. He leant in, about to press their lips together.. When Chuck walked in.


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a little late, I got distracted binging Jacksepticeye's Undertale!

Chuck froze in his tracks, Thomas and Newt both staring at him also frozen in place, their lips mere centimetres from each other. "Um.. U-uh.." Chuck stuttered, breaking the silence and making a move for the door.

Newt leapt up, standing upright and his face going red. "W-who let you up here!?"

Now it was Chuck's turn to be embarrassed, his face going much darker. "I-I was j-just seeing if he was okay! He hasn't b-been outside, so I thought something was wrong..."

Newt scowled, the blush not leaving his cheeks. "Move out you shank. If you didn't have permission then you got no bloody right to-"

"Slim it, Newt!" Thomas scolded, Chuck looking at him in surprise. "Don't be so hard on him just because he cares as much as you do. You've never stopped him before."

Newt sighed and sat back down. "Thomas is fine, now back to work and tell no one what you saw or it's a week in the slammer."

" _Newt!"_ Thomas scolded.

"Two nights in the slammer." Thomas sighed, knowing Newt was already straining himself.

Chuck nodded quickly and fled the room, his footsteps disappearing. "Why were you so hard on him?"

"Why? Why do you think, Tommy? What do you think'll happen if he went and blabbed?"

"I'm pretty sure the gladers are more concerned about the Mourner right now, relax. Alby remembers, and Minho does too, and they haven't done anything. Once we get out we can't just keep this forever now can we?" Thomas pushed himself up and put a hand on Newt's shoulder. "Just relax. For now, at least."

He clearly wasn't going to calm down. "I'll see you later." He didn't look back, quietly leaving the room and slamming the door behind him.

~*~

Chuck reappeared later in the day, waiting outside the door for any sounds before letting himself in. He found Thomas lying face down on the bed, duvet on the floor and a quiet groan emanating from the pillow. "You okay there?" He asked, the groan stopping.

Thomas lifted his head and turned it to look at him. "My back feels like it's on fire. It hasn't felt like this before, at least not while I'm awake, but I swear I haven't touched it or got anything on it! Can you look for me? See if it's doing something?"

"Uh- sure." Chuck walked over and frowned, reaching out to touch it but then thought better of it. "Well, your veins are starting to show and they're really bright. Not glowing or anything, or a weird colour, but like.. they're coming up from underneath." Chuck had never seen a changing before, it must be quite scary for him..

Thomas felt a scream rise in him but he put his hand over his mouth to stop it. "Guess it's just irritation.." He lowered his hand before quickly putting it back.

"Are you sure that's all?"

"I just feel like like screaming, that's all." He sighed and buried his face back in the pillow, restarting his groaning.

Every now and again the volume would rise, but then he'd lower it again. "Shall I get-" Chuck was cut off by Thomas finally letting out his scream, almost as loud as when he was unconscious. "I'll get a medjack."

~*~

Outside, Gally was ranting to Newt about his new conspiracy theory he'd clearly conjured up from Winston, going on about how Thomas was the cause of all their current problems. He'd clearly been either eavesdropping on their gathering or someone had been spilling some beans that they shouldn't have. "I mean it's your problem, if all-" He was cut off by Thomas' scream.

Newt spun round. "Slim it, Gally? You hear that?" Another scream. "Tommy!" Newt sprinted off, already seeing a medjack run inside.

Chuck was running out the door, almost going smack into him. "Newt! Something weird is going on with Thomas!"

"Yeah, I heard his scream. The entire glade probably heard him."

Newt walked straight past, heading upstairs. The medjacks were both already stood by Thomas' side, inspecting his wound and murmuring between themselves. "You sure you gave him all the stuff in that syringe? Did we miss anything? Did we give it to him too late?"

"Minho seems fine, but you could be right. Maybe it's just a second phase, maybe there's two changes and Minho is going to have this too." One put a disinfectant cloth on the wound that made Thomas scream even louder in pain.

"What's going on?" Newt asked, putting on an authoritative tone.

"His wound has flared up, veins are appearing all round it and it's causing irritation and inflammation."

"You got anything to fix it?"

"No, but there's one problem. It's not for certain."

"What's that?"

"Judging by the pain it's causing and the way his body is reacting, if we don't get some sort of supply within the next few days, Thomas could die."

~*~

While the last supply was certainly missing a new glader, the next weekly one was an agonising wait but it was certainly worth it with the amount inside.

Minho was awake and his wound seemed to be doing just fine, it hadn't flared like Thomas'. Meanwhile, Thomas quietened down in the night and hadn't made a noise since; the medjacks assumed his body couldn't take whatever was happening internally and so it shut down. In an attempt to keep the fever at bay, someone was always sat by his bedside fanning him.

Newt tried not to seem too worried, trying to distract himself with gardening instead of spending every moment by his bedside, holding his hand and wishing for things to improve soon. It would show too much away..

When the supplies came a medjack, Frypan, Newt, and Alby all stood round the box nervously waiting what might be inside. Alby jumped down first, rummaging around. "Anything unsual?" Newt called.

"Well there's food, clothes, first aid stuff... Oh hello." Alby picked up a silver box, inspecting it by turning it in his hands. "This box has a four digit code on it, but this is the only thing out of ordinary. Loads more of that serum though."

Alby reached up and the medjack took the box. "Any idea on the code?"

"Nope, but there's 10 000 combinations and we may as well start now." They answered, heading back to the homestead.

Everything else was unpacked and the box disappeared back to wherever it came from, leaving Newt in an even worse mood. Sulking, he went to see how Thomas was doing, finding a medjack turning combinations in the box. "Take a break, I'll do that for a while." The medjack shrugged and gave the box to Newt. "Can't be anything too obscure, surely.."

Newt sat down on the edge of Thomas' bed and began slowly turning the dials. He reached 1234 and the box opened... Typical.

He was going to search its contents when someone screaming bloody murder caught his attention outside. It was one of the runners, coming in through the west door. Soon, everyone in the surrounding area began screaming and running too.

A creature - no, monster; came through the west opening. Flesh-like skin, metal teeth, scorpion tail..

Newt gasped and threw open the window, leaning his head out and bellowing,  _"MOURNER!!"_


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have some angst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me five tries of pasting this in and being told "It's too long!!" Before realising I was pasting it into the chapter summary.... Oops

" _EVERYBODY HIDE!"_ Newt ducked his head back in, shutting the window and curtains. "Tommy, wake up! You've gotta wake up have to hide, now!!"

He shook him by the shoulders, trying to wake him up but he wasn't responding. There was a growl from downstairs and a load of crashes, signalling the Mourner had made its way into the homestead. It could bring the whole place down, the floor could disappear from under their feet!

Newt pulled back the curtain and looked outside, seeing dead bodies covering the ground. Some twitched, others trying to get up and move. What about the other runners? Minho? Where was he? Was he alright? Safe?

Now screams were in the hallway, footsteps thundering past and doors slammed shut. Newt was cornered, unless he jumped out the window there was no escaping but he couldn't just leave Thomas behind!

The door was smashed open, pieces of wood flying in every direction. Newt scrambled under the bed and held his breath, hoping that since Thomas was unconscious, it might mistake him for already being dead. Did that even matter to a monster?

The Mourner grunted, its heavy steps making the floorboards creak, its knuckles scraping against the floor. It let out a loud roar, its tail whacking into the furniture and smashing it all to pieces. It approached the bed and started to sniff at something. Newt put his hands over his mouth, trying to pant quietly through his nose.

It let out another mighty roar and swung at the bed, breaking it in half and flinging Thomas at the wall. "Tommy!" Newt cried, looking at him but then back at the creature.

The glade had fallen quiet, all Newt could hear was his own breathing and the Mourner's huffs, steam coming out its nose like a bull. Was everyone else already dead? Did it kill them all? Was he the last one?

The Mourner reared its tail back, bared its teeth, and plunged its tip into Newt. Newt screamed, the tip of the tail ripping into his stomach, seeming to be twisting around. Just to cause him more pain.

It pulled its tail back out and Newt slumped forward. It gave out one last huff and left the room in search of others to kill. Newt was lying so he faced Thomas, seeing him crumpled against the wall but he couldn't see any blood. Maybe he'd live through this..

Newt, however, clutched at his stomach, gasping for air and pressing with all his might to try and stop the blood flow. His top stuck to him, it was slowly soaking with blood, and he began to cease his pressing.

He couldn't hang on any longer, the pain was too much, there was too much blood. His vision blurred, the edges turned black, his ears white noise. Then it all went black. His hands fell to his sides. His eyes didn't even close. He welcomed death's embrace.

~*~

Thomas awoke to the sound of rain. Wait, rain? He sat up with a groan, feeling tufts of grass beneath him and leaves in his hair. Looking around, there was a small campfire surrounded by a few wooden benches with people sat on them. Others were messing around with leaves and blankets in another area; were they beds?

A make-do roof was keeping them out the rain, the raindrops leaking through in a few spots, but there weren't any leaf piles near them. Everything was right next to the box, and the map room was on the other side of this.. makeshift camp?

The homestead- was gone!? So was the slaughterhouse, and the animal pens looked like they'd be crushed and fixed again in a rush. Just what happened? How did Thomas get to the middle of the glade?

He stood up and walked over to the campfire, frowning at everyone who looked at him with no emotion on their faces. "Where is everyone?"

A few motioned with their heads to behind them, where bodies all lay on their own patch of leaves. They almost looked lifeless; a few glowed, most were sweating heavily, and others were just lying there, unmoving. It was like everyone just.. stopped.

Thomas saw Chuck sat on one of the patches, hugging his knees. "Chuck." The young boy lifted his head, smiling to see it was him. "What happened here?"

His smile disappeared. "Well..."

_Chuck was hidden in the slammer, with Gally and a few others. They were all fairly nearby it when they heard screaming and then Newt yelling 'Mourner', so all the boys headed straight for it and took in anyone who also tried. It was a miracle it didn't get destroyed, but after prowling through the homestead it ran straight to the forest and disappeared back into the maze afterwards._

_The homestead was in shreds, you could hear the remaining wooden supports creaking when you got close. The slaughter house was completely destroyed as well as the farm so the surviving animals were running around aimlessly, squealing and squawking in fear. "Find any survivors, especially the medjacks." Gally ordered, heading first towards the homestead._

_Chuck searched the farms, finding two gladers in the mud, both pierced by the Mourner's tail. One was barely breathing, while the other actually seemed to be fairly conscious with their eyes half open and looking around._

_Gally had to tread careful, one wrong step could bring the whole thing down. Alby was dead in the hall, head ripped clean off. About seven more were dead upstairs; Thomas was unconscious but otherwise unharmed, one medjack was covered in deep scratches and trying to walk, the other lay still on the ground but he was alive. Newt.. took a while to find a pulse but it was there, but without treatment he'd be dead like the rest._

_One by one, Gally carried out the living and took them to the centre by the box where they had decided to gather everyone, someone trying to treat them. Thomas was the last to come out since he needed the least amount of help, when_ snap,  _the whole homestead came crashing down. The floor disappeared from beneath his feet as he tried running for the stairs, the two falling through and landing in one of the rooms below with a crash. Gally had passed out, being underneath, but he only sustained a broken ankle and a bruised spine so he couldn't move too much for a while._

_With nowhere to sleep or hide from the sudden rainfall, a temporary shelter was made by those who were awake and well enough to move around. The kit Newt had managed to open was full of yet another new liquid, so everybody still alive and stabbed got given a shot, and so far everyone seemed to be pulling through. A fire was made, Frypan was able to continue as cook, and the all the runners stopped running._

_Turned out that all the other runners who had been out didn't run into the Mourner once. One claimed to hear it, but he never saw it; so Minho and the others were all alive and well. They took after everyone._

"You've been out for three days, but you're also the first one to wake up. I don't know what happened, but the Mourner didn't stab you again. I'm just really glad you're okay." Chuck sniffed and wiped at his eyes, so Thomas pulled him into a gentle hug.

When Chuck calmed himself, Thomas pulled back. "Isn't everyone going to scream from the changing?"

"Probably. Everyone was hit the same day, so they're all probably gonna start screaming like an orchestra. We're trying to find supplies that weren't destroyed and the Mourner hasn't been back yet, so right now we just hope everyone pulls through."

Thomas sighed, but suddenly he panicked and looked around frantically. "Where's Newt..?"

"He's alive. He's somewhere over there," Chuck pointed at the glowing bodes, "row four I'm pretty sure."

Thomas dashed off before Chuck had even finished his sentence, finding him almost immediately. Just like everyone else, he was shirtless; bandages were wrapped tightly around his stomach where he'd been struck. A frown was etched into his face, sweat made his head stick to his forehead; he was clearly trying to ignore the pain, skin beginning to glow. "Newt..." Thomas whispered, taking hold of one of his limp hands.

He let the silent tears fall, lying down beside him and crying his heart out. He felt like all of this was his fault, and not just Newt getting stabbed but everybody else too. Did he cause this, coming into the maze? He wanted different memories, he wanted to piece together what was happening, why they were here..

The thoughts gave him a headache, as well as his crying, so he tried to distract his mind and stared ahead at the ground instead. He stayed that way, until his headache made him sleepy, and he drifted away.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm beginning to think calling Chapter 1 Prologue was a bad idea because whenever I update this I have to remember to take one off which part it is... ~~oh well we started now we may as well finish~~

As Chuck had predicted, the screams started the following day. It seemed people took the change differently, so not everybody started at once, but by the third day everybody was screaming and the remaining gladers felt like ripping their ears off.

They couldn't stay like this though; supplies were gathered and sorted into boxes for temporary storage, the medjacks used moss for earphones to cancel out the sound, and even the runners returned to trying to find the code, though a lot more cautiously.

Thomas mostly stayed by Newt's side, hoping that his presence might ease the pain but it did absolutely nothing but make his hand hurt with how hard Newt squeezed it. He tried to stay distracted by helping around; planting new seeds, feeding the animals, and even cooking a couple mornings. Thankfully the rain had stopped, but now everywhere was as muddy as the pig pen.

Winston was alive too, so every major department had somebody covering it.. Except the gardening, that was always Newt's favourite, but it wasn't too hard of a job to do. Thomas was just glad that everyone that he cared about – except Alby – was still alive. Newt was going to take that news hard when he woke up, and he'd rather someone else told him.

Chuck was like a leach. The poor thing was so shaken by the event that he spent most time right next to Thomas, helping with all his jobs and only leaving him alone when he was with Newt. Despite it getting annoying, Thomas enjoyed the company. Chuck was like a little brother to him, somebody he wanted to protect with his life.

It was just before the walls were closing that Minho returned, running straight for their camp. "Guys! I know where the code is!"

Thomas jumped up from where he was siting beside Newt. "You're pulling my leg."

Minho didn't look happy about it. "Jim died.. the Mourner got to him. He was barely breathing when I found him, but he told me where it is. It's on the Mourner's tail. He tried to push the tail out of him, and he saw numbers printed on each of the little sections. He saw a seven at one end and two at the other, so we know the beginning and end numbers now."

"How is WICKED expecting us to get close enough to that thing to get the code off its  _tail!?_ I don't know about you, but I'd rather I nor anyone else got close enough to that thing to read them. We don't exactly have cameras unlike WICKED and these bugs, so pictures aren't an option."

"I'll do it." Chuck said, walking over to them.

"What? Chuck no-" Thomas protested, "we don't even have a strategy yet. I'm sure there's another way- I'm not going to let you strut off to find that thing in the maze and look at its _tail_. You could get killed! Or be in a coma like everyone around us!"

"Well if I go into a coma, then I'll be alright in the end."

Thomas huffed and was about to continue when Minho put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Now isn't the time to be discussing who's doing what. We're going to derive a strategy first, alright?" Minho said, taking authority and the two boys nodded reluctantly. "Good that. Now let's eat, I'm absolutely starving."

~*~

Thomas was finally running again the next day, leaping into the familiarity of his assigned maze section; but with the fact of knowing where the code was, why were they running when they should be thinking up strategies or looking for the damned thing? Unless they were somehow looking for where the code should be entered, this entire run was pointless.

Either way, Chuck was virtually offering himself as a sacrifice but Thomas was having none of it. He'd promised to protect him, to find his parents for him when they got out the maze, and he still planned on Chuck being there to find them with him. He wouldn't let their youngest member give away their life so carelessly.

Thomas' thoughts were brought to a sudden halt when he ran smack into a dead end. The force made him lose his balance but he didn't fall, quickly regaining his composure and gathering him bearings before turning round to the nearest clearing and break for a few minutes.

Reaching his area, he sat down to catch some breath and eat something light. That was when heard quiet footsteps behind him and he spun round, knife gripped in his hand. The person stood there, was no other than Chuck. "Chuck? What are you doing out here!?" Thomas shouted at him, but hushed so the Mourner couldn't hear if it was nearby.

"I followed.. you.. out here.." He was out of breath and close to collapse, "maybe I could.. see.. the.. Mourner.."

Thomas sighed, putting his things away. "Follow me, I'm taking you back to the glade. You've broken the priority rule, like I did! With Minho not around, Alby dead, and Newt in a coma, Gally has control of the camp and he's not going to let you off lightly if he catches you! If you're gone too long he'll get suspicious... But you would be safe in the slammer.." He muttered the last part to himself.

"Alright!" Chuck looked ready to cry. "I just want to help. I feel so useless around camp, I was on dunny duty before all this klunk happened so I was useless then and I'm still useless now."

"Your job doesn't define you. You're not useless, I promise you that.. Now let's get you back before you become shank for life."

Chuck nodded sadly, reluctant to go back. He sulked back with Thomas to the glade, thankfully unseen by anybody, Most were tending to the screaming boys under their little shelter. "I'm going to check in another direction for the last half hour, but don't tell anyone where you've been, okay? I don't want you getting punished or hurt. I care about you." Chuck looked the other way. "I'll see you in a bit."

Thomas turned and ran back into the maze, disappearing round the corner. Chuck returned and picked up a random shovel to look like he knew what he was doing, heading towards some other people carrying shovels.

Some were working on the homestead so Chuck wandered over to try and help them instead. It was tough work, but the three of them managed to fix the ground floor of the homestead, in an almost better condition than it was to begin with. Chuck felt quite proud of himself after that, feeling a bit better about things.

Thomas returned later on, same time as always and headed straight for Newt. "I'm back, I told you I would be." He stroked his hair back from his face.

Everyone awake knew about Thomas' feelings, they were so obvious, so he gave Chuck permission to spill beans on what he walked in on. Newt wouldn't be happy about it, but he didn't get a say in it right now. "Thomas, leave your lover boy alone and come help with the fire, would you?"

"Coming" After all that had happened, Gally's opinion had only worsened on Thomas but they seemed to have some form of unspoken truce going on to not bicker at one another. "I'll be back to sleep, alright?" He kissed Newt's forehead, feeling the heat practically radiate off his face, almost burning his lips. "Promise."

~*~

The eleven awake all sat round the fire, munching on chicken and discussing possible strategies. With so few of them, and such a pandemic, Gally and Minho decided to get everyone in on their current plans. None of them could sleep anyway, the screaming keeping them all awake though a few had stopped now. "How long till the Mourner comes back?" Gally asked.

"I think WICKED are bored and just want some sick entertainment, so unless we find this exit quick then I think fairly soon." Minho responded, hands clasped between his legs, leaning forward.

"So unless we somehow get its tail, we're not going to find this code. We can't do it at night because I think it disappears and the grievers take over. Definite daytime creature because it only appeared not long after the walls were meant to open." Thomas piped.

"Meaning we either wait for a massacre to finish off what's left of us, or we find it first." Thomas shared a glance with Chuck as Gally spoke, but he was avoiding his gaze. "But of course, we can't all go because people here need to be looked after, they could wake up any day now. Then again, that monster could also come back any day now."

"So you're saying people who aren't runners should start going out tomorrow? In groups?"

Gally nodded. "I think it would be best."

"So.. Who's going to allocate them?"

"We'll discuss them in the morning, I don't think any of us will be getting very much sleep tonight. We can decide on some slightly more alert brains."

Everyone got up, going in their separate directions, either to their own bed or beside a friend. Thomas of course went to Newt, lying down beside him on the grass and holding his sweaty hand. His body twitched left and right, his head constantly turning side to side.. but no screams escaped him. Maybe Thomas could manage a couple hours sleep after all.


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk how AO3 works but if you receive a load of updates for this fic it's because I'm updating the older chapters so that they actually have italics in them

About an hour before the walls were meant to open, each willing runner was allocated an equally willing partner. Minho took Gally despite his bad ankle, and Thomas took Chuck, so Frypan had been left in charge of camp for the day until at least one of them cam back. As much as Thomas had tried to protest, Chuck was adamant on coming along.

As soon as the walls began to open, the four pairs squeezed through and ran in their own directions. The rest left behind oversaw the 'sick', making sure nobody died. The amount of memories that were going to be recovered would be absolutely enormous, it was quite painful to think about, but maybe collectively they could find a way out the maze and get back home. Wherever home was.

With Chuck so small and slow, he and Thomas reached their destination a little later than they'd hoped. Chuck sat down for a break, leaning back against one of the walls. He panted to catch his breath, but then he suddenly stopped. "Thomas..." He whispered, looking at him with panicked eyes. "Do you hear that?"

Thomas held his breath too, now hearing a form of grunting in the distance. Since Thomas had spent most of his time unconscious around the monster, he'd never actually heard it roar or groan or anything of the sort. "The grunting?" Thomas whispered bacj.

Chuck nodded. "That's what we heard while we were hiding, when it was searching for those who weren't struck yet."

"You go hide around that corner, I'll kill it." Thomas pulled a knife out his back pocket.

Chuck shook his head and stood up. "No, you're a lot smarter and braver than I am. You're worth a lot more than I am, Thomas. You go. Now. You know how to get out this maze, you can outrun this thing."

A fleshy hand appeared around one of the corners. "Chuck! Run!" Thomas accidentally actually shouted, pushing Chuck towards the nearest exit.

The Mourner roared, thundering in and charging right towards them.  _"Run!"_

Thomas grabbed Chuck's hand and ran, leaving their bags behind. Chuck stumbled behind him, unable to keep up with his pace and their hands lost their grip, causing Chuck to stumble but Thomas to keep going. "Thomas, just run! Go!" Thomas spun round, starting to run back but it was too late.

The Mourner grabbed him, holding him in one fist with the poised right above his chest. "Seven!" He yelled.

Thomas frowned, tears brimming. "W-what?"

"Four!"

 _The code._ Thomas hastily pulled out his notebook, feeling around for his pen, but... where was it!? He didn't have time for this- he had to write it down! "Five!" Chuck gasped as the grip tightened, "t-two!" Thomas slashed at his wrist, crying out in his own pain but it was the only thing he could think of.

The Mourner finally thrust its tail through Chuck's chest, the boy throwing his head back and screaming in intense agony. Blood spurted out the front and back, like a couple miniature fountains. "Three..." It was a whisper, a whisper Thomas couldn't hear.

"Chuck!!" He tried running for his body, but the Mourner growled at him, making him step back.

The Mourner dropped him with a  _splat,_ and began charging straight for Thomas. "Chuck.." He wanted to stay, he wanted to help, he wanted to kill this monster with his bare hands but it was going to kill him for sure this time.

Thomas turned and sprinted away as fast as his legs could carry him. His vision was blurred with tears, he couldn't see probably; using his hands to help him turn corners quicker, trying to remember the way back but also trying to just get away. Get safe.

_Smack!_

Two people fell backwards, including Thomas. "Watch it!" That was Gally.

"What are you doing over here? Where's Chuck?" That was Minho.

Gally got up first and offered a hand out to help him stand. He looked a mess, and his hand was covered in blood. "Chuck.. He.. I.." Thomas cleared his throat. "Follow me."

He lead the two back to the clearing, hoping he got the directions correct. They saw Chuck's body on the ground and Thomas ran to him, finding three numbers written in blood. Three, nine, and two.. The last numbers of the sequence. "Noo!" Thomas wailed, kneeling beside his body and leaning down to hug him. "Chuck, please! Wake up! You gotta wake up! We're gonna leave this maze together, remember? We made that promise! We promised!"

"Thomas we need to go."

"No! I can't leave him here!"

"Thomas, we have to go. Now!" Minho had to pull him away, holding him tightly by his good wrist until he started running at their pace and Minho let go.

By the time they returned, Thomas had stopped sobbing and just wanted to be left alone. He was already feeling riddled with guilt for leaving his body behind, he should have carried him back to the glade, have a proper burial like he deserved. "How did it go?" A medjack asked, seeing Thomas' arm and immediately going to tend to it. "Where's little Chuck?"

Thomas pushed him off and walked straight past everyone, going straight to where Newt lay and held his hand. "Newt please wake up, I need you right now. I need to know you're okay, I can't lose anyone else.. I can't."

Newt of course gave no answer, his body lying still. The fever had gone and his skin was back to normal, but like everybody else he'd lost a lot of blood and that was his current battle. All Thomas had to do was wait a little longer.

~*~

Three days had passed, and only about fix or six gladers hadn't woken up yet. Thomas had only eaten half an apple since they got back, and he hadn't left Newt's side either except for the toilet. His stomach growled and he felt sick because of it, but mourning over Chuck really threw off his appetite. He felt pathetic, showing everyone how he really felt on the inside.

He didn't run, he just sat. All day. Minho left him an apple and a bit of bread in the morning, in case he changed his mind, he didn't eat all day and that probably wasn't going to change until Newt woke up.

That took another day, almost the last to wake. Most people left him to it at this point, helping to rebuild the glade. A medjack came along to check on Newt's progress, but they were more worried about Thomas' health at this point. He'd starve soon if he wasn't careful.

Newt woke with a small groan, his hand moving inside Thomas' and his head turned to face him. He squeezed his eyes tightly before relaxing them, opening slowly and squinting a little until Thomas moved and blocked the sun. His eyes didn't look right, like they were glazed over. "Tommy?"

Thomas gave him a sad smile, picking up Newt's hand and kissing him palm. "How are you feeling? Do you want anything?"

"Just... you and some water." He looked at the roof over their heads, and frowned. "What happened?"

"The whole place was destroyed, so some of us made a make-do camp near the box. There's only about thirty of us left, maybe not even that, and we're slowly rebuilding it all.." Thomas trailed off. "We have the code now. It was on the Mourner's tail."

"Who got it? Are they okay?"

Thomas shook his head slowly. "We went out in partners, Chuck came with me, and..." He couldn't finish, shaking his head.

Newt lifted his other hand and caressed Thomas' cheek. "I'm really sorry that happened. He was a good kid.. I know you two were practically brothers."

He nodded. "At least you're okay though, I don't really know what I'd be doing if you died too."

Newt closed his eyes briefly. "I remember us.. Not much right now, but I'll explain later, it's still foggy. There is one thing I want to do now, though."

"And what's that?" He stroked Newt's hair, looking into his tired eyes.

"Kiss me.."

Thomas smiled and leant down, straddling his body. Their lips were mere centimetres apart, just taking in the moment. Then he closed the gap, pressing their lips together delicately, as if one of them would break if there was too much force.

It had been far too long since their first kiss when Thomas woke up, and now they just wanted to be together, reminiscing their time lost to injury and now mourning.

When Thomas pulled away, Newt was asleep again; a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also a lil shoutout to astralpenguin for yelling kudos at me every chapter, don't think I don't see you ;)


	11. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I forgOT THIS TURNED SUBTLY SMUTTY AT THE END so warning for that????

The following day, Newt forced himself to be up and walking, but since he was struck in the stomach he walked extremely slow; he helped carry materials or tend to his garden. Thomas was finally beginning to eat again, but because he basically starved himself he wasn't fit to run so he happily got to stick with Newt for the day. 

Minho came back early in the mid-afternoon, grabbing Gally, Newt, and Thomas; he took them all to the map room and he splayed out all the different patterns, placing them all on the table. "Right, we got the numbers, and we have done this map high to low too many times over and there isn't a hatch anywhere. This code has to mean  _something_." Everyone nodded in agreement. "Maybe it's number of steps?"

"We could trace all the patterns for each week, see how many lines they share. Maybe it'll map out a path." Newt suggested.  
  
"But what does that have to do with the numbers?"

"Maybe we enter them in somewhere at the end? I don't know, but anything is worth a shot right now."

"I'm with him." Gally said, "the numbers could be their length, or co-ordinates, I don't know. If they were letters, what would they stand for?"

A pause. "G, d,e,b,c,i,b. It doesn't exactly spell anything, not enough vowels."

"Let's just start tracing." Thomas picked up more paper and a few markers before handing them out. "See if it goes anywhere."  
  
The boys spent the rest of the day and into the evening tracing them. Thomas and Newt sat next to each other, one of Thomas' legs over Newt's as his hands were busy.

Once they had all traced their own weeks and months, they placed them into four equal piles. "Now, we draw their shared lines. If there even is any."  
  
That was much quicker to do, all ending up with random arrays of lines that so far didn't look like anything. "Guys I'm getting tired." Newt hugged his stomach, super hungry but unable to eat much because it hurt.

"You go to bed, Newt, you need the rest." Minho said. "Us three will finish up."

Newt nodded and stood up, using the wall for support. As he walked out, Thomas gently caught his arm. "Wait for me if you can." He whispered.  
  
Newt blushed and nodded, leaving quietly.

The three remaining boys finished their lines and took one of Newt's remaining ones when they finished their own. They created a fair few arrows; seven, to be exact. The rest had come up completely fruitless, which honestly pissed them off a little. "What a shuck waste of time that was." Minho grumbled, biting into an apple.

"Well, at least we have some. It's something to go off isn't it? We'll check out where they lead in the morning." Thomas stretched, wincing as he felt a scab pull on his back.  
  
"All right. We meet in here first thing in the morning before the walls open." The three nodded, and then each went to bed,

Thomas quickly found Newt, and thankfully he was still awake, looking up at the sky and leaning back on his elbows. "You waited." Thomas smiled and Newt looked over, then smiled back."

"Of course I did. I want to spend as much time with you as I can; who knows what could happen at any moment?"  
  
Thomas sat down beside him, copying his position. "Once we're out, I don't really know what we're going to do. Who knows what state the world is in. For all we know, we could be the last people alive, or maybe this is just some big TV show that people watch for sick entertainment and the world is much better off than we think it might. Or.. remember, it might."

Newt shrugged, not really in the mood to talk about it. "You know I sat like this for a reason, right?" He shuffled over so he was now straddling Thomas, hands on cheeks. "So I'll guess I'll just do it to you instead."  
  
Thomas grinned and sat up properly, putting his hands on Newt's hips and running them slowly up and down his sides. "I guess it's about time we had some time to ourselves." Thomas leant forward, forcing them lips together in a passionate kiss.

Newt let out a small groan from his throat, licking at Thomas' bottom lip to make him open up. Their tongues met in the middle, sliding over each other sensually. It reminded Thomas of when he first woke up and they first kissed; but this one was a lot more heated, passionate..  _sexual._

He tugged on Newt's legs so he was even closer, making their crotches rub together to create a bit of friction that earned a moan from Newt. His hands pressed against Newt's lower back, urging the bodies to touch. Newt's hands were now in Thomas' hair, gripping it in two fists and pulling his face even closer. Their noses bumped, the kiss became messy, and their teeth even clacked a few times.

They fell back into the grass, gasping in surprise, but the kiss barely faltered. Feeling cheeky, Newt grinded himself against Thomas, a moan escaping both of them. "Newt..." Thomas whispered, nails digging into his back.

Newt grinned, doing it again, and again, and again until it just became a sensual rhythm. Newt couldn't kiss anymore, he buried his face in Thomas' neck, small whimpers of pleasure coming out of him every other moment. "Tommy.. Oh bloody hell..."

"N-Newt, how far are we..?" Thomas moaned again, throwing his head back.   
  
"I-I don't know..." Newt looked around, biting his lip to stop any loud noises coming out. "The others.." He whined; he just couldn't stop rubbing, it felt too good.

"You.. you have to stop." Thomas kissed him again, barely getting his mouth.

"I can't.. I shuck can't.. It feels too good, Tommy.." Newt's breath turned shallow, his hands tightening their grip.

"Then you better shut up.." Newt frowned at him, but when Thomas started to grind back he immediately got the message and kissed him to muffle himself.

Thomas' hands gripped his ass now, dipping inside his trousers and squeezing his soft skin. It helped to pick up speed, pulling him back and forth. Newt was in charge of keeping their lips locked, it was all they had to not scream in pleasure. Newt hadn't felt this in two years, or even longer. Did they do this before the maze? He certainly would be wanting to do it once they got out.

Newt's whimpers started to increase in pitch, grabbing desperately at Thomas' body. "Tom.. Tom-" Newt couldn't even finish his name, panting between kisses.

Suddenly Newt's whole froze and he squealed in Thomas' mouth. Thomas kept going, he hadn't reached it yet, but now Newt was oversensitive and scrambled on top of him, but Thomas' hands kept him firmly in place until he too froze in place, rocking very slowly against him until he calmed down.

Newt whined. "Tommy, I want more." He whispered, a hand going down Thomas' front but he grabbed his wrist, stopping him. "I need more!"

"Later.. you're lucky I didn't push you off earlier." Newt pouted.

He rolled them onto their sides and held Newt in a hug. "You horny thing." Newt snickered. "Now go to sleep, we have a long day tomorrow."  
  


Newt chuckled. "Yeah... okay."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus christ this chapter is short, sorry about that :( I might look ahead at what the next few chapters I've got written are and see if I can lengthen them for you guys!
> 
> Edit, about 30s after I wrote the above sentence: Things get MUCH longer in about 4 chapters time :D


	12. Chapter 11

Newt woke up half on top of Thomas; one of his hands was under his shirt and splayed across his stomach, his knee pressed against his crotch, and his head was just under Thomas' chin.

Thomas was already awake and grinning at him, clearly concealing laughter. "Sleep well?" He asked, pulling him up to kiss his forehead.

Newt nodded, rubbing his cheek against Thomas'. "Do we have time to get some food?"

"Probably. You'll have to get off me first." Newt groaned and shuffled so he was even comfier. "C'mon, Gally and Minho woke up already." Newt lifted his head. "I know it's early but we do have to meet them."

"Well why didn't you wake me?"

"You looked too cosy. I was about to, but then you started stirring so I left you to it."

"Oh.. Okay."

~*~

The four boys were back in the map room, trying to decide what they'd do today, but Minho kept the giving the couple a weird look. They both just hoped he didn't hear anything.

The arrow marked papers were put on the table, the number and letter code written at the bottom. "So.. Any ideas?" Newt asked, leaning against the table.

"Do we allocate them or something? Minho, you know the maze, is seven paths forward and then four left possible? Or right?"

Minho paused, then shook his head. "Not directly. If you were going to somehow take seven forward, you'd have to go left and right to do so. I can certainly try, let me have a couple sheets."

He leant forward over the large drawing of the maze on the table, following it carefully for each map design, and they kept going to the same place. "What about each day?" Thomas suggested, doing the same and ending up somewhere else.

"Maybe the numbers really are just a code and we do-" Gally followed something else, but got a dead end halfway through. "Nevermind, scrap that that."

"Minho," Thomas put a hand on his arm, "let's explore these areas today, if we use the right pattern we could find something. The walls open any moment now, we have the time. If you give us much more we'll have to do it tomorrow anyway."

"But if we wait any longer, we're giving the Mourner time to come back and kill the rest of us. Most of the gladers can barely walk from their bed to the campfire, so Newt you are  _not_ coming. So we need people to go now!"

"Then we'll just do the ones with the arrows. Newt, Gally," he turned to them, "ask everyone who got stabbed what they remember, anything relevant to the maze or this code or even myself is most helpful. Everyone will hate my guts, I know they will. We'll be back at our usual time, probably. Everyone know what they're doing?"

Thomas wasn't sure when exactly he took the authority, but it was working and the look on Gally's face was pleasant, but their truce continued because he didn't try and stop him. "Then let's go." Thomas and Minho picked up a rucksack each, before turning and running out.

~*~

Newt and Gally basically got people to line up and talk to them, although the ones lying down they didn't force to go anywhere. Most people said they only remembered school, and Thomas being a big teachers pet. They even mentioned names of people who weren't in the maze.

A few mentioned numbers in a keypad, arrows and vines, but anything more detailed was too fuzzy to remember. Newt was similar, but his memories were much more Thomas based. He was meant to bring something up with him, but he didn't know how Thomas would react; they had a fight, just before Newt was sent into the maze.

Newt remembered his first day in the maze like it was only that morning; he'd woken up feeling sick with dry tears down his face, his heart was hurting and his head was pounding.. Now he knew why. Only three other people had been there to greet him; Minho, Alby, and Gally. They were the first four, but until Thomas arrived his heart never felt fixed.

He was just glad he couldn't remember what their fight was about. It would probably break both their hearts.

~*~

Thomas had followed Gally's route, the one that came to a dead end. Nothing was out of ordinary, so Mourner, no missing vines, no falling stones. It was like things were almost normal, and it made Thomas feel.. calm. Like he hadn't been stabbed in the back, like Chuck wasn't dead, like the glade wasn't destroyed.

He reached the end and searched the walls, feeling around for.. something. He didn't really know what he'd feel in a stone slab wall, but he did find a crack a little bit above his head.

Thomas pulled a knife out from his belt and jammed it into the crack. It made a few bits of rubble fall out, so Thomas kept hacking at it until the knife hit something metallic. Was this the door!?

The sky was turning dark and he knew he'd have to return soon. Whatever was back there, they had a three day limit until the particular wall moved somewhere else, so they had that long to dig out whatever was behind it.

He found Minho halfway back, but let him run ahead because felt like they were a little too pressed for time, and if anyone was going to stuck it was better off being Thomas; but they made it back fine, both headed straight for the fire to get some food.

The evening was quiet; everyone seemed to be a bit more relaxed. Things were going smoothly; people were getting better, the Mourner hadn't even been heard in the maze today, but also the fact they were safe from everything at night when the walls closed. Even the runners looked forward to the time when they had to come back, because it meant they were safe.

At night, Newt and Thomas lay together, slowly drifting off when Newt spoke. "Tommy, I got something to tell you."

"Mm, can't it wait till morning?"

"It's just something I remember, I can't keep it hidden from you anymore."

Thomas frowned and lifted his head slightly. "What? What is it?" Thomas got high enough to look at him, but Newt looked the other way. "You remember something important?"

"It was just before I went into the maze, we.. we were arguing. I don't remember what about, but you were just so angry at me. My first day in the maze I woke up in that box wanting to throw up and I had dry tears all down my cheeks. Course I don't remember why, but I assume it was because of you."

Thomas was quiet and put his head back down, and then he sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't remember it."

"You remember the fight?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I know what we fought about."

"What was it?" Newt rolled over and stroked his cheek, trying to gently coax it out of him.

"Your life."


	13. Chapter 12

"What do you mean, my life?" Newt shuffled away slightly, worried.

"You knew what you were getting into coming up here, but you didn't have a choice in the matter. I was on WICKED's side, so I was trying to convince you that your 'sacrifice' was for the greater good. I used to know what was wrong with the world, and I guess it's so bad that I thought this was a better option for you.

"You got really upset, understandably, and... I don't know what happened after that, but you were taken from me and... I don't- I don't know, I used to know but I can't remember now."

"You.. You cared more about this maze? Than me!?" Newt looked hurt, but he didn't do anything.

"Guess I did.. But Newt, I'm so sorry, I barely remember it now. Maybe they did something to my brain like with this memory loss, I don't know! You have to believe me, please. Just because I remember doesn't mean that the me  _now_ is any different, right?"

Newt rolled over. "And what if you got all your memories back? Would you remember why WICKED is so amazing? So perfect?"

"Newt-"

"Goodnight, Thomas."

Newt curled up, but flinched when Thomas touched him, so put his hand on a patch of grass behind him. "G'night..."

~*~

When Thomas woke up the next morning, Newt was already gone. The walls were still closed, and both Minho and Gally were still sleeping. Thomas got up, trying to find where he had wandered off to. "Newt?" He called in a hushed whisper.

Newt was sat by the edge of the forest, using a small a pocket knife to carve at a piece of wood that he'd pulled off the tree. He briefly glanced up when Thomas came his way before returning to what he was doing. If anything, he was just feeling away the layers, turning it into a miniature spear.

Thomas sat in front of him. "Let's talk."

Newt paused, glancing at him again. "What's there to talk about?"

"Last night, let's just talk about it." He offered out his hand, standing up.

Newt hesitated but he caved in, taking Thomas' hand and pulling himself up. "You want to talk? Let's talk."

Thomas began leading him into the forest, still holding his hand. "I want to know why you're being distant now, just because I told you something that is now just a distant memory. I mean, it was two years ago!"

"I could have still been out there with you. For much longer, maybe my leg wouldn't have gotten damaged. Maybe I wouldn't have seen so many of my friends die, see them forced out into the maze just because they did something wrong, or they went crazy."

"Well even I'm in here now, so you would have come in before me anyway. Maybe you would be in Chuck's position instead, and for all we know I might have decided to come in here. God knows why."

Newt didn't say anything, looking away and pulling back his hand, folding his arms. "It just hurts that you might have had the choice to keep me, or my friends. You don't know and I don't know, and I just want answers! I feel like we were better off before you got stung, or both of us, because now we just have even more questions left unanswered and I hate it!

"How would you feel if I sent you up here? Because I thought sacrificing my boyfriend was a better idea than letting him live in this weird school? You let us come in here! How could you do that to us!? I know you said you were watching, but how could you!? Somewhere in that fat head of yours is knowing you've let so many people die! Not including the ones from last week! Alby's gone, Ben, Jim, Alex, Jason! They're all your fault!"

"I know... I know they're all my fault, because I sent you all up here I chose to send every one of you to a potential death. I got Chuck killed, and even without my memories I know I've never felt this much guilt in my entire life. But we have the code now, and I found something yesterday, I know what-" Newt cut him off, grabbing him and pressing him against a nearby tree.

"Just shut up!" Thomas saw how angry Newt was and tried to push him off.

Newt quickly realised what he was doing and stepped back. "Sorry, I.. I don't really know what came over me."

"That's fine..." Thomas certainly didn't have any memories of Newt being angry except for their fight before the maze, so it was a bit.. out of character.

Newt hugged him now instead, making Thomas slightly cautious of his next move, but he hugged him back anyway. Newt nuzzled him. "What's wrong? It can't just be because of that argument, can it?"

"I'm sorry... I'm not usually like this, nobody's meant to see this side of me. You're new so you wouldn't understand, but so many of my friends have died, and Alby was my best friend; while you weren't here he was like my other half, and I wake up only to be told he got his head ripped off by that bloody creature that I wish killed me instead!"

Newt started to cry, clinging to Thomas' shoulders. "Everyone always called me the glue, because I made sure that I befriended every single person in this glade, so I knew every single person who died, everyone who died I considered to be my friend... and over half of them are gone. Forever. There's no getting them back unless I go to them."

"Newt... Don't think like that, we all want you here, all the friends you still have. Like when you climbed up the wall, we don't want you doing that again, okay? Remember how mad Alby was? He's protected you up until this point but now it's my turn and I'm going to make sure you don't hurt yourself any more."

"I don't need protecting, I'm not a bloody kid."

"Don't you?" Thomas held him tighter. "You don't deserve anything that's happened to you, and I'm really sorry that I caused all of it. This is all my fault."

"Yeah.. it is." Newt pulled himself away, stepping back. "Look, I came out here to ignore you for a bit and you being around isn't helping the case."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"I.." Newt sighed, then put his face in his hands. "I don't know what I want right now, okay? Everything's changing and none of it is for the better and I'm powerless to stop any of it. It's not that I want to be in control of everything, I just want to stop everybody I care about dying. Is that too much to ask?"

Thomas walked over and pulled Newt's hands away, gently kissing him on the forehead. "No, it's not, and it's exactly what I'd expect to hear from you. I don't remember very much, but I know you're the same old Newt as always."

Newt looked up at him through his lashes, the artificial moon making his eyes shine because of the tears. "Everything's going to be okay." That made Newt look like he was going to break, letting out a sob. "I promise."

"Tommy..." Newt hugged him again, holding even tighter to him. "I changed my mind, please don't leave..."

"I'm not going anywhere."

~*~

"And what am I meant to do about this?" Newt grumbled, looking around for something to use.

"I did warn you." Thomas was trying not laugh at him.

"Yeah, but.."

After hugging it out, the two had sat down in the ground opposite each other in silence. It was fairly calm until Newt started to grin, looking across at Thomas and he tilted his head to the side. He muttered a quiet "kiss me" and things just kind of escalated from there.

What Thomas hadn't known, was that Newt had been commando that night and couldn't 'pull it out' in time, so now their activities looked extremely obvious and Newt was criss-crossing his legs in an attempt to hide the patch. "Can't you get a clean pair of trousers somewhere?"

"No more clean ones come until the next supply which is five days away! All my other pairs are somewhere in the debris pile of the homestead. Hence don't you forget we haven't rebuilt it yet! I have no others!"

"Okay okay calm down." Thomas rubbed his chin in thought, then started to smirk. "Let's go to the water troughs."

"I'd rather you didn't rub around there to try and clean it, thanks. Plus, then I'll just look like I took a piss."

"I have a different plan, come on." Thomas grabbed his hand and the two ran by the wall's edge, hoping the gladers didn't spot them so far away.

Newt now stood in front of one, still crossing his legs about. "Okay, now what?"

"This." Thomas raised his arms and shoved Newt backwards.

"Hey!" Newt stumbled backwards, legs pressing against the trough and his body tipped him backwards, falling in. " _THOMAS!"_

"Hey, now they can't tell!" Thomas started to laugh and he couldn't stop, only shrieking again in a fit whenever he looked at Newt.

"Shuck, what did I miss over here then!?" Minho asked, walking over to them.

" _Someone_ pushed me into the animals' water trough!" Newt grumbled, taking Minho's hand to help him get back out.

"Ah. Why, exactly?" He turned to Thomas was still sniggering, not yet calmed down. "Whatever, go to the map room, I need to talk to Thomas for a moment."

Newt looked sceptically at him, but he left the two alone. Minho now started to snicker, a large smirk on his face. "I do have something to discuss, there's just.. something else I need to say first."

His shoulders shook with contained laughter. "Sound travels pretty well in the glade."


	14. Chapter 13

Newt refused to talk to anyone since Thomas pushed him in the trough. Minho's little comment made its way to Newt and he got so flushed in embarrassment that he was avoiding everyone's gaze. They all shared the same knowing smirk, so either they heard it or Minho was telling everyone what he heard.

After some tough persuasion, the three boys and the other runners all followed Thomas to where he found the crack in the wall, planning to spend today finding out what exactly was behind it. For all they knew, it could be a glitch in WICKED's system and the crack would be gone by the time they got there.

With different tools each, they spent the whole day hammering away at the wall, slowly making the crack wider until it was sizeable enough to be called a hole and they found a keypad. "We're going to have to clear the rest of this door before we trying entering anything. It probably won't open otherwise." Gally said, trying to be in control."

"So shut up and continue." Thomas retorted, whacking his hammer at the wall and making a large chunk fall down.

"No, it's late, we need to head back if we're all going to beat the walls." Minho said, starting to pack away his things.

"Then I'll stay overnight."

"Oh no you don't." Newt grabbed his arm, "not after last time. For all we know this is also where those grievers live in the day, they can't just magically vanish when the sun comes out."

He had a point, he could stay overnight and not even be able to do anything to the wall. He nodded, making Newt's body relax a little. "Let's go back then."

~*~

They all returned again the next day, and managed to uncover the whole circular door by lunchtime. The keypad sat directly in the middle, a narrow display on top of it. Not even a handle, so hopefully this door would open on its own. "Okay, we've got in uncovered. Let's pack up, head back, grab the others, and come straight back." Minho ordered, everyone agreeing and hastily shoving things into their rucksacks.

The walls closing was their time limit, that was the maximum time they had before needing to leave but with a plan of escape, but arriving at the wall before grievers appeared would be preferable. One Mourney was eaiser to avoid than countless grievers; Thomas had never confirmed how many there were, just that 'they kept coming'.

With everyone virtually healed, even Newt as he managed to keep good pace with the others, it shouldn't be too hard to get everyone together. Since Thomas and Gally volunteered to round everyone up, they headed back first at a faster pace, a good couple minutes ahead the others. "So.. Thomas, eh?" Minho asked, giving Newt playful nudges.

Newt jabbed his elbow into Minho's ribs. "You just had to mention it, didn't you?"

"Your reaction was priceless." Newt scowled at him. "But even those kisses of yours couldn't muffle it. Congrats anyway, you dirty shank. Can't wait till you reach third base."

 _"Minho!"_ Newt looked away, his face gone bright red.

Minho laughed and they continued running in silence.

~*~

They were almost back when Gally slowly came to a stop round a corner, making Thomas stop as well. "What?" Thomas went quiet. "Do you hear the Mourner?"

"You can't leave the maze."

Thomas frowned. "What? Why not?"

"Things are only going to get worse."

"What are you on about? What could possibly be worse than this place? Stabbed by the Mourner? Stung to death by grievers? WICKED won't supply this place forever and with all the klunk that's been going on I think things are only going to get worse if we stick around."

Gally only seemed to get angrier and lunged at him, knocking Thomas to the ground. "You're not going anywhere! Even if it means I have to kill you." He punched Thomas in the jaw, his head flying back and hitting the stone path.

"Well if that's how you want to do things.." Thomas spat, raising an arm and pushing Gally off of him and jumping up.

They circled like two boxers in a ring, just like when Thomas accidentally ended up fighting him on his first night in the glade. Except now, he wasn't going to let Gally win. Gally was the first to charge, crying out and headbutting Thomas' stomach, forcing him to stumble back until he hit the wall. Thomas hissed in pain and brought up his knee, getting him in the groin.

Gally's face paled and he loosened his grip, giving Thomas the chance to push him away and try running again. Gally was too strong, Thomas wasn't going to win this fight unless the others backed him up; but Gally was faster too and jumped on him again, once more crashing to the ground. Thomas managed to roll them over so that he was on top.. But Gally did just the same.

He sat on Thomas' legs and wrapped his hands around his throat, pushing down with his palms. "I can't allow you to leave, Thomas! If you knew why then you'd thank me!" He hissed, arching his body away so Thomas couldn't grab him, but Thomas was more focused on trying to get his hands off.

"I know more than you think..." He wheezed, "it's o-only inevitable... I don't know what it is, but you're going to die if you stay here! We're all going to die un-unless you help..."

"You're wrong!" He squeezed him tighter and Thomas squeaked, trying to kick around but he was completely stuck. "It's a fate worse than death. You'll rue the day you left this maze!" Thomas' face had drained of colour now, he was losing it.

"You shank..." He coughed, trying to push him off, his vision starting to go. "Minho'll kill you..." His voice turned into a high pitched whine at the end, shaking his head.

His grip on Gally's wrists fell and he choked out his last few breaths. "Tommy!" He heard a distant cry, then an angry, "hey! Get off! Gally what are you doing!?"

Thomas saw Minho flash by, ripping Gally off of Thomas and the two were on the ground beside him. Thomas' eyes had closed and he was only taking in small breaths, but he could hear what was going on.

When he became more aware, Thomas suddenly gasped and stumbled over himself, then hearing two other people stumble too. He looked to his left and saw Newt, a runner on the right; they were back in the glade now, heading towards their camp. "Feeling okay?"

"Been better.." His voice was hoarse, and it hurt when he tried to clear it. "Where's Minho? And Gally?"

"Minho's already back, got Gally locked up in the slammer. You wouldn't respond to me calling your name and you blacked out for a couple minutes, but when you came to and could kind of stand, Rick and I carried you back. You alright now?"

Thomas nodded. "Yeah I can walk.." The two boys let go of him and Rick walked away before Thomas could thank him. "We really need to get everyone together and all our supplies to that door.. What time is it?"

Newt looked at his watch. "Not long gone midday, we have plenty of time, right?"

"Yeah, should do.. We should hurry anyway; anyone's who's still injured should be patched up as best as we can while everyone else gets things together. We don't know what's on the other side of that door, but WICKED wouldn't make it dangerous.. at least I don't think they would. They wouldn't put half dying people into anything more dangerous..." Thomas looked unsure of himself, but Newt just put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a soft pat. "Let's just do this."

An hour later, everyone carried a rucksack full of their own equipment, food, water, and a weapon in hand. The Mourner would still be on the prowl at this time of day, even though since Chuck's death they'd been lucky enough to not see it. Yet.

With the sun still high in the sky, the remaining twenty or so boys set off. Newt knew Gally did something horrible and he should pay for trying to kill another glader, especially his Tommy, but locking him in the slammer and leaving him behind..? It didn't seem right.

Thomas lead at the front, Minho was at the back, and Newt was in the middle; everyone else was spread out in-between with the mostly injured back by Minho since he wasn't allowed to leave them behind; but even with the injured, they still managed to get to the door in just half an hour. "Who remembers the code?" Newt asked.

"I do," both Minho and Thomas said, coming up to start entering it in the keypad.

Thomas was about to press in the numbers when a howl made him freeze. Everyone turned slowly, a long casted shadow appearing from around the corner. Metal scraped against the ground. A fleshy hand gripped the wall. Quiet grunts... Thomas was completely frozen in fear, having flashbacks to when Chuck died. All he could see in front of him was Chuck screaming in pain, blood spurting out of his chest, the tip piercing through his body-

A scream brought him back to his senses as the first glader was taken captive, quickly cut short as the tip pierced their heart. "Enter the code!" Newt shouted at him, holding out his weapon in defense as did everyone else, pressing closer to the door.

Thomas' hands were shaking, he fumbled to even get his fingers hovering over the correct number. "Move it!" Minho shouldered him to the side, punching it in himself. "7,4,5,2,3,9,2..."

Everybody had to move forward as the door creaked open and began to lift, rising above their heads. "Everyone get in!" Thomas yelled, pushing people towards the open doorway.

Another scream as the second glader was taken. In Minho went, the medjacks, Winston, Thomas waiting for everyone to go through and he felt Newt pull him, but he stood in place. Thomas waited for the last one, but as they ran towards him the Mourner pounced, engulfing his head in its mouth and biting straight through.

Thomas didn't even know how to react, he was half pulled inside the hatch and he grabbed a handle on the other side of the door, pulling it down and engulfing them all in darkness.


	15. Chapter 14

It was silent, the only sound being the boys' breathing and a single thump as the Mourner tried to get in. "We didn't leave anyone out there, right?" Somebody asked.

"Just three." Thomas answered, "and there's no getting them back."

There was a moment of silence, but it was quickly brought to a halt when they realised they could well be stuck. Somebody fumbled around and a torch flicked on, lighting up the floor and everyone was cast in shadows. "Better." Minho said. "We should get moving, find where this place leads."

Minho took the torch and walked at the front, so everyone behind was in the dark. Thomas desperately wanted to find Newt, but in the darkness he couldn't tell which blonde head was, even his limp blended in with everyone else. Even with a torch, the tunnel looked like it stretched on forever. Maybe Gally was right, maybe they were all going to die, or share a fate worse than death.

There was only one way to find out, and that was to keep walking.

~*~

They didn't know how much time had passed, but Minho suddenly stopped and a couple people bumped into him and he dropped the torch, disappearing down something and they were plunged into darkness once again. "Way to go, you shank, made me drop the torch." Someone muttered an apology. "There's some sort of drop, but I think it's a slide or something."

"A slide? Where does it go?"

"I don't know, it curves round. The only way to find out is to follow it." Minho started climbing in and pushed himself down.

The sound of him sliding around faded away, and they waited in silence for a call, a shout, anything. "It's safe!" It sounded fairly distant, but it meant Minho was okay.

The boys were all filled with a form of giddiness now. This was it, they were finally getting out the maze! What better way to go out than on a slide, too? The boys started going down, a few of them letting out some happy cheers. Thomas waited until he thought everyone was down and he stepped forward to go in himself when something grabbed his arm and he yelled in surprise. "Tommy it's me! Calm down."

"Newt.. Don't do that." Newt laughed. "How'd you know I was at the back?"

"I was walking beside you the entire time, I saw you close the door so I just.. assumed correctly. Now come on," he fumbled around until he was holding Thomas' hand. "We do this together."

Thomas squeezed his hand and he let Newt sit down first, protectively holding onto him from behind. "Ready?" Thomas nodded and pushed, falling down surprise.

Newt let out the first cheer, and then laughter. They felt safe for once. Free! They were returning to the real world! Maybe their families were waiting, maybe they'd get their memories back, maybe everything would turn out okay after this. The chances were low, but... maybe.

A bright light at the bottom illuminated the tunnel, and it was simply a blue plastic slide, nothing more. Both boys squinted became blinding and erupted in front of them as they were tossed out onto a rubber landing patch.

There was sounds of applause and cheering around them, but it was too loud for the other gladers to be doing it themselves. Thomas put a hand above his eyes and stood up, seeing the others stood in a circle formation and looking out into the distance in awe.

Thomas helped Newt to stand, their hands still clasped together. They were in some sort of arena, the ground completely made of rubber, and in the top of the area were hundreds if not thousands of seats filled with people wearing pristine white lab coats and some of them had goggles.

Newt looked to Thomas for some sort of clue to what was going on, but he was just as clueless as the others. It made him worry slightly so he squeezed his hand gently, making Thomas turn to look at him. Newt gave him a weak smile before turning to look somewhere else in the crowd. Newt was beginning to realise Thomas was all-knowing, he was WICKED's pet but to only some extent.

Finally the claps began to die down and most of them disappeared down some staircases in the stands, but a select few came through a door on the opposite side of the arena. Thomas rushed to the front and drew his weapon, as did Minho and a few others. "Woah! Calm down!" One of the lab people cried, raising her hands up. "You're in safe hands now, no harm will come to you."

Nobody lowered their weapons. "You may have those sharp knives and spears you've created, but we have guns and lasers in this very ceiling, so I wouldn't try anything if I was you." A man stepped forward, pushing up a pair of glasses. "We are WICKED, World in Catastrophe, Killzone Experiment Department. Follow us, will you?"

Their name was almost as suspicious as having guns in the ceiling. Reluctantly, most of the boys dropped their things but a few kept hold of their knives in their belt. Not wanting to be left behind, they all started walking forward in a big group, Newt coming forward to the front.

The came out into what could be described as a hall of glass. The floor was tiled, but all the walls were glass, showing whatever room was on the other side. Most of them were labs, computer rooms, and some were offices. "We've been monitoring you all for the past two years; how you react to stimuli, and your ability to survive in a completely different biome." There were some dirty looks at Thomas as the man began talking. "As all of you probably remember now, Thomas was our wingman, helping us create it all until it was ready and the planet began to go... downhill, shall we say."

"We sent in Thomas because he would trigger certain events, giving you all a bit of a boost to hurry and solve the maze-"

"How on earth were we meant to find a code if it was on some creature's tail that didn't exist until Thomas came along!?" Minho growled, a runner holding him back.

"It always existed, the different sections in the maze. Each one would be closed at a certain time, and it repeated after every month. Surely your.. runners? Would have noticed this."

Everyone looked to Minho and he simply shrugged, now feeling embarrassed. "Our doors never shut, it never occurred to us."

"Anyway, we created that monster to make you all hurry up a little, you were taking longer than we had expected. We were going to let it run until you either found the way out, or you all simply died off. Glad you chose the former, it means we didn't waste two years on you." Thomas and Newt's grip equally tightened on the other's hand, thinking of Chuck and Alby. "But now you're out, the rest can begin."

"We have rooms for you, and a different set of clothes. You'll all be sharing, but I doubt you mind."

The boys followed them to a large room; it had a navy blue carpet, and the walls were as white as their lab coats. Beds lined the edges of the room, but far too many for them all to occupy, so they must have planned to have more of them survive... There was a door off to the right, but it was shut so nobody could see what was back there. "Some food and water will be up shortly." The man said, grabbing the door handle, "you are safe now, so please put your knives away." He shut the door.

Nobody spoke, they just walked around the room and all chose a bed. Minho, Newt, and Thomas chose ones together in a line by the door; Winston took the window, Frypan by the other window, and all the beds on the right side of the room for whatever reason remained empty, nobody chose them.

One boy went over to the mystery door and opened it up, erupting in a cheerful glee. "Showers! Running toilets and a sink!" Most of the boys copied his cheer, throwing their arms happily in the air.

The majority ran to try and grab a shower, Newt inclusive, but he stopped when he noticed Thomas wasn't coming. "Aren't you coming, Tommy? We can always share." He winked suggestively, trying to lighten the mood, but Thomas just shook his head and put it in his hands. "Hey.." Newt walked back and knelt in front of him, pulling his hands away and holding them. "The maze is behind us now. We're never going back, we're free."

"Then why did that guy say the next part can start? What's the next part? He said it himself, the world went downhill and that's why all of you started going up there. What's happening outside, Newt?" Thomas turned to look at the window, but they had a view of another building.

"There's plenty of time to think about these things later on. Let's just be clean for once, wear some new clothes. How does that sound?" Thomas didn't say anything and Newt looked over his shoulder, seeing some disappointed gladers come back in. "Well, even if we did shower together it seems they're all taken. We'll wait until it's quieter.

Newt sat on the bed with him and held his hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of it to try and calm him down. The poor guy seemed more stressed out of the maze than he did in it, he was getting so worked up over a couple of sentences. When the showers freed up, he forced Thomas to go by basically dragging him into the bathroom.

They showered separately, dressed in the cubicles, then returned to Thomas' bed. Thomas lay down on the sheets, looking up at the ceiling. Except for when he was sick, when was the last time he slept in a proper bed? It felt weird, and he had been there what felt like minutes probably compared to poor Newt and Minho, the only ones of the original four left behind. Newt sat down, putting a hand on his arm. "You should get some sleep Tommy, we'll get answers later on. I'll wake you when the food gets here, okay?"

Newt was talking to other gladers, eventually leaving the bed. Thomas rolled onto his side, facing the wall. If the sheets and pillows weren't so comfy, he might not have slept.. but he was out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huzzah! The last of the short chapters! They'll be longer ~~and better written~~ from here on out :D Hope you guys are all still enjoying this fic  <3


	16. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a long ass chapter! :D

Newt shook him awake, mumbling something about fruit. His hand was in his hair, gently stroking through it with his thumb. "When did the food get here?"

"I told you I'd wake you for it. It came a little while ago but you looked really peaceful. Now the food is kind of disappearing so I thought I'd wake you before they ate it all."

Thomas shuffled out of bread and grabbed the first bit of fruit that he saw and then came straight back, leaning into Newt's open arm. "No meat? Aren't you hungry?" Newt stroked his side up and down.

"Not that hungry.."

They ate quietly, small conversations passed through the room from time to time; wondering when the people would come back, what kind of answers they'd get, and what was happening next. Newt was just listening to Thomas talking, because he started murmuring about something really quietly and Newt was just letting him get it off his chest. "I just hope I find out what I did and why I wasn't the same as one of you guys. I want to know where our families are, or Chuck's at least. You want to know too, don't you? I didn't think we'd get this far even after I got some of my memories back but now I don't really know what to think. I thought up of every scenario I could think and what we're doing right now isn't one of them. I know I'm talking your ears off but nobody else wants to listen, they're too optimistic and I just don't trust that we're actually safe now."

Newt was going to reply to him, but the door opened and everyone immediately shut up. "Thomas, Newt, Minho, come with us. The rest of you will be picked up later on." It was the same man and woman who spoke to them earlier.

Everyone looked at him, watching them like hawks as they left the room. Minho lead first and Newt held Thomas' hand, following behind. They headed down the corridor, but stopped barely a few doors down. "Thomas, you're stopping here."

"Wait-" He started, but they pulled him hard enough that he let go of Newt's hand, stumbling into the IT room and then hearing the door lock behind him.

He tried to watch Newt disappear down the corridor, but suddenly the glass turned opaque and he couldn't see out, and Newt couldn't see in. "I assume you're wanting some answers." The woman he was placed with said, catching his attention. "About why you're here, why you willingly sent your friends and your dear boyfriend into the maze?"

Thomas' fist clenched. "I want to know why I was on your side and not theirs. Now that my memories are gone I realise what horrible people you all are! What makes me so different? Why do I get the oh so lovely job of helping you create deathtraps?"

"You used to understand, Thomas, understand it all. WICKED is good." Thomas frowned at her. "We're going to help you remember." That saying.. where did he know it from?

A door on the other side of the room opened up, and it exited into an operating theatre; but when Thomas looked back, the door was gone. Something was going on. A man dressed in green overalls approached him, and gestured to the seat next to him. "Please, take a seat. This won't hurt a bit and you'll get your memories back."

Thomas was sceptical, taking a step back but he hit someone's chest. "What's the catch? What if I don't want them back?"

"There is no catch. It's for your next trial, Thomas, you're going to need your memories if you want anyone in your designated group to live. You'd understand more if you just sit down." Something in his tone worried him, so he still didn't move. "Do you want your friends to die? Your boyfriend?" Still hesitating. "The only catch, if you really want one, is the regret you're going to have if you don't do this."

Thomas did want to remember, he did want to save his friends, but he didn't trust the people who wanted to poke around in his brain. "Why can't someone else get their memories back instead? Do I get them back permanently?"

"If you agree to this, you won't need to ask any questions. You're going to know all the answers yourself."

~*~

Down the hall in a different laboratory, Minho and Newt were asking about the current life on earth, but WICKED didn't seem to be wanting to share anything. "There is great darkness" is all they would say, or "most of you will overcome it". No details as to why most, or who, or even what the 'darkness' even was.

When they finally gave up, the man with them spoke. "We're in here because I thought you might want to see your parents."

Newt's head spun round, remembering Thomas mention them quite a lot. "Actually.. meet them?" Minho asked, looking hopeful.

"No, only pictures." Minho sagged. "Thomas will probably fill you in later on."

"Does he know something about them?"

"He will soon. Anyway, Newton," the man turned to the computer and typed in a few words, and faces began appearing onscreen. "These are your parents, and Minho yours are below." He stood back to let the boys get a look, transferring them to a larger screen in front of them.

They had no idea what to think, what to say, what to do. Newt looked a lot like his mother; they shared the same facial shape and eyes, but he had his father's hair colour, curling at the ends. Minho was the same, except for a masculine twist he looked identical to his mother. "Are they dead?" Newt asked, crossing his fingers.

"Minho's mother is alive." He said bluntly, but said nothing about his own.

"And mine?"

"Minho's mother is alive." He repeated, so Newt could only assume the worst for his own.

Despite not having a single memory of them, Newt felt sad. Maybe they died when he was born, maybe WICKED killed them, or maybe the darkness did something to them. Whatever it was, he hoped it had been fast. "YeeAAA _AAAAAAGH!"_ Someone screamed, making both the boys jump and finally look away from the screen. "Aaaah! StooAAA _AAAAH! Stop!"_

"What the hell is that!?" Minho yelled over it, covering his ears.

"You mean you don't recognise it?"

"sTOP! JUST STOP! ST-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Minho was still confused, but beside him Newt suddenly lunged at the man and sent them both to the ground. "What are you doing to him!? Tell me right this minute or I won't be afraid to hurt you!" He threatened, raising his fist to punch him but Newt was quickly pulled away by two other scientists.

It would take an idiot to realise he of course meant Thomas, but he hadn't seen Newt get that angry before. "Get off me! Take me to him right now! I said now!" It sounded so close by, as if he were in the room.

After a few moments of kicking around and more threatening, the screaming died down so that they could no longer hear it. The man Newt attacked tapped one of the walls and it turned to glass. Newt ripped from the scientists' grip and ran to the glass, putting both his hands up against it. "Tommy..."

They could see him on the other side, practically tied down to a chair that was tilted back. His eyes were closed, so maybe he'd passed out, but somebody in green overalls was round the side of his head by his ear, but his back blocked their view of whatever he was doing. "Satisfied?" Newt glared at the man, not saying anything. "Come, your trip isn't finished yet. You will see him later."

~*~

Later, as promised, Newt and Minho returned to the bedroom where everyone seemed to be packing things into rucksacks. Minho went over to ask, but Newt was on a Thomas hunt; he wasn't in bed, nor was he packing with the others. Maybe he wasn't back yet?

Newt went into the bathroom and heard a shower running. "Tommy?" He called out, but he didn't get an answer.

Going up to the cubicle, he found Thomas had left the curtain open and he was stood shirtless under the water stream. "Tommy?" He asked again, reaching a hand out to touch his cheek but stopped when he noticed the small square of scalp behind his ear where his hair had been shaved off. "Are you feeling alright? What did they do to you? I heard you screaming-"

"I understand.. everything." He turned round slightly, looking down at his feet. "Everything." He whispered, reaching forward and turning off the water, wincing at the squeak of the dial.

"What do you mean? Did they tell you about what's outside? Family?"

"They did once, years ago. Newt, I have my memories back."

Newt's eyes widened and he took a step back. "I mean.. that's amazing! But you don't seem very pleased about it."

"I don't.. I don't really know how to feel about it. I'm still processing it all, I just think of one thing and then I ask questions to myself as to why it happened, and bam the answer is right there in my mind. It just hurts so much..." Thomas pressed his forehead against the cold tiles, closing his eyes. "I don't know what they did to my head but it hurt like shit."

Newt looked vaguely surprised by the change in language. "Minho and I heard you. I had that feeling again where I got really angry and basically threatened the guy we were with until he showed you in a chair- but Minho and I saw our parents and- well, uh.. We can talk about this later, was that water even hot?"

"You  _saw_ them? In person!?"

"No.. Just a picture. Do you remember yours then?"

"I.. I haven't really tried thinking about them yet. How do I remember someone when I don't know what they look like? But there is something-" He made a pained noise and quickly pressed his hand to his head to try and relieve the pressure. "Something I think you should know. About the past.. Newton isn't your real name."

 _Thomas was six, sat in his front garden, drawing into the ground with a stick_ ,  _intricate designs that got him where he was in the first place._

_Thomas was six, sat in his front garden and drawing into the ground with a stick. His designs were so intricate, so strange that they got him where he currently was, living together with his parents._

_A large removal lorry came down the road and parked opposite his house. Another kids was arriving in their little lane, and Thomas had known that for a while, but he didn't know his name._

_One of the doors at the front opened and a small boy jumped out, squealing when a tall man picked him up from behind and swung him up in the air, briefly letting go and catching him. Judging by height alone, and what they told him, the boy must have been around his age._

_The man crouched down and said something to the boy and he nodded, running over to Thomas. "Hi!" He waved with a smile, stopping on the pavement and rocking back and forth on his feet._

_Thomas tilted his head to the side; so this was the new boy. "Hi. Are you coming to school here too?"_

_"I don't know. I know my sister is!" Newt beamed, clearly proud of her. "My mum says I might get to go cus I'm really good at making friends."_

_Thomas didn't really see why WICKED would want that when they told him they wanted him because he was smart, not because he was friendly. "Cool. I make really com-pli-ca-ted patterns and my teachers really like them. What's your name? I'm Thomas and I'm six years old."_

_"Me too! My name is James." The boy gave him another cheery smile, lighting up his whole face._

_"Imma show you around!" Thomas grabbed his hand. "Come on!"_

_~*~_

_Thomas was twelve now and things were starting to change around school. "Thomas, can you come up to the front please?" The man in white asked. "Read these instructions to the rest of the class."_

_"Sure.." He walked up to the front and took the paper, then raised an eyebrow, unsure what any of its contents was about. "The following people are to stay behind; Andrew(Alby), Benjamin, and Luke._

_"The second group; myself, Wong(Minho), and Peter, got to room 10. Third group; David and Teresa, go to room 5. Finally group four; James(Newt), Sarah, Kate, George, and Jessica, go to room 3. You'll hear further information when you get there."_

_Everyone looked between one another, but they all got up and left to their assigned rooms. James grabbed Thomas' hand weakly, but let it fall away when Thomas turned into his room. The two were best friends now, spending all their time together, but Thomas had a feeling he knew what they were about to be told._

_Down in room 10, the three sat together in a row at the front of the room, soon followed by a woman who sat down at the teacher's desk. "Well, I'll tell you what's to come and then I'm afraid I've got some bad news." Wait, what's to come?_

_"Is stage two starting?" Thomas asked, Peter looking at him like he had three heads._

_"Yes. We're going to be in a new building soon which is where you will all stay for the next few years. No more going home now, and there's a very good reason for it." Thomas knew it. James was going to be heartbroken. "All of your fathers are dead. Don't worry, your mothers are fine, and none of them are dying." Yeah, yet._

_The room fell so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Peter was the first to burst into tears, and Wong didn't know what to do with himself. Thomas already knew his dad died, a month ago, so he'd had his time to cry. He wasn't meant to die with him there, it was an accident, an accident he couldn't forget._

_Wong just put his head on the desk. Thomas just leant back in his seat, letting out a deep sigh. He only knew about James' parents because he heard two employees discussing it, and he knew he could never tell him the truth._

_His parents were both shot by WICKED, it was the only reason he was still here, because they pitied leaving him on his own in the world considering its current state. They couldn't leave a child alone like that; it was his sister they wanted._

_Group one had both their parents alive and got to live quite happily knowing nothing was wrong; group three had only their mothers dead, and group four were both dead either by WICKED's hands, or by what they told them. That the darkness got to them._

_From that day forth, their lives changed._

_~*~_

_James became much closer to Thomas. Once they were released to mourn over their losses, James ran straight to Thomas and cried into his chest, telling him what he'd been told. Thomas had slightly hoped what he overheard wasn't true but hearing it from his best friend only made the blow a lot harder._

_Just the next week, Thomas was screaming his head off to protect James. "James is his fucking name! You can't just change somebody's name like that! Mine isn't changing!" He yelled, his arms out wide to protect James who was behind him._

_"Rules are rules, Thomas, you are to call him Newt from now on. Along with Alby and Minho since you seem to be very close to them too." The man in white said, hair slicked back with too much gel and glasses that looked too small for his beady eyes to look through._

_"You're such a rat." He spat, "a filthy rat! All of you!"_

_"Calm down, Tommy. It's just my name." James put a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down._

_James didn't really know why this was such a massive deal, he didn't know why Thomas and WICKED were joined at the hip, he knew so little. "James you don't understand! I can't just call you Newt! I can't!"_

_"Why not?"_

_"Because-" Thomas squealed as a hand was pressed over his mouth and a woman pulled him away from James._

_"That's enough from you." She said, tightening her grip as he wriggled around. "Newt, return to quarters."_

_"Yes miss..." He turned, looking back at Thomas over his shoulder who was struggling even more. They were hiding something around here, and Thomas knew what it was. But what..?_

_~*~_

_They were fifteen now, and the two boys were fighting. They'd been dating since not long after the parent bomb got dropped, but they'd never fought like this before. "You're different Tommy! You're bloody brainwashed!" James yelled, leaning close to try and seem taller._

_"I'm not different to the damn kid you met ten years ago when you got here! What makes you think I'm so fucking different now!?" Thomas yelled back, towering over him._

_"Oh.. I don't know.. Thinking it's okay to send me into your homemade death trap!? I could die up there! I probably will die! You won't tell me a damn thing about what's up there which means it's going to be horrible!"_

_"For god's sake I was four when I made it! How did I know WICKED would do this with the blueprint!? You know it's for the greater good,_ Newt.  _We can save the world with these experiments!"_

_"With a fucking death trap!? I know you can see them! You could see Andrew's face when he went up! I bet he was terrified, wasn't he!? And you're going to send me into the same fate! You..!" James backed down. "You know I'm not that strong."_

_"You won't know that. You're not going to remember anything! Not me, not Alby, nobody! Nothing except that your name is Newt!"_

_"But it's James!"_

_"No it isn't!" James jumped back in shock, almost hitting a wall. "Not... Not anymore."_

_Tears brimmed in his eyes now; the Thomas he fell in love with was gone. They never even got to say it to each other, and it didn't seem like Thomas wanted to. "Two years ago you fought to keep my name, to keep calling me James..." He sniffed, wiping at his eyes. "What changed, Tommy? What changed?"_

_"I understood what's important in this world." A loud siren began to go off in the background. "It's time for you to go."_

_"I don't want to go." James was already stood in the box, they both were and Thomas started walking away and James tried to follow, but Thomas stopped him. "Tommy, please. Please! I don't want to go! Don't make me do this! Please don't make me go!" He sobbed, clutching to his jacket. "I don't want to die up there!"_

_Thomas looked around, then suddenly grabbed James by the shoulders and kissed him, hard. "Promise me you'll stay safe..."_

_"W-what?"_

_"Wait for me." He whispered, "you're going to be okay, I believe in you. I love you." He kissed him again, then ran off just before the caged wall closed him in._

_"Tommy?" James ran to the wall, sticking his arm through to try and reach him. "Tommy! Tommy!" He cried, tears continuing to fall. "I love you too..."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaah I don't know why but that flashback was so fun to write xD Hope you're all still enjoying this fic! See ya friday <3


	17. Chapter 16

 "So my parents...were shot? WICKED killed them?" Newt never knew them, but now that he knew their faces, it felt even worse. "And.. everything else. Jeez, Tommy, what you've just said is enough to send anybody completely loco."

"Yeah well.. it hurts to think about. Literally, they gave me tablets to take for it, but I can't see myself having them for much longer."

"That's good, right?"

"Not. One. Bit. I'll explain later, as much as I can."

"Why not tell me now?"

Thomas bit his lip and glanced around them, then waved Newt closer and pulled him into the cubicle, pulling the curtain shut. "Where we're going, WICKED won't be able to control my every move. Right now, they hear and see everything we do. They could be listening right now. Like the maze, they'll be watching, but I know they won't stop me. They can't stop me, because they know they can't kill me. They won't let it happen."

"Tommy, you're beginning to make me worry."

"Good, be on your toes. Things will only be going south."

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

~*~

When they arrived only a couple days ago and tumbled out the slide, Newt remembered Thomas looking quite lost as they looked around the stadium, not as knowledgeable as Newt had once thought. Now, with all his memories, Thomas just seemed worried all the time, and was 'unable' to tell him why.

Bright and early the next morning, Newt watched Thomas take one of his tablets with one of the most sickened expressions he'd ever seen. He asked if they really tasted that terrible, but Thomas said it was more about what they were doing soon.

All the remaining gladers were taken to an empty room and split into groups of four. Thomas knew who his group was already, but he let Newt have his giddy moment to discover they were together and with Minho, and some guy named Caelan. Minho was catching on though, because to have the three of them together out of a random luck of the draw would have been highly coincidental.

Each group was separated in the hallway, going into yet another room where there was three chairs, four bags, and a man dressed in a white lab coat. "You're group four of six." He said to the trio (and Caelan), gesturing for them to sit down.

They exchanged a glance, trying to decide who would have to stay standing. Thomas sat down and tugged on Newt's hand, telling him to sit in his lap, so other two took the remaining seats. The man at the front grinned at their decision, though subtle, and Thomas wondered if he should have done something else. "One bag for each of you. Each group has a different task, and yours is to collect a very specific flower." He pulled a picture out his pocket and held it up for them to look at. "Genetically modified to cure cancer, as I'm certain all of you used to know." He looked at Thomas. "Find a flower? Sure, it's a simple task, it seems tedious; but everyone's task is tedious.

"You have limitations. Newton limps, Caelan is still weak from the Mourner attack, and Thomas?" He stood up, putting Newt in the seat. "You know what to do. Show me your tablets."

Thomas reached into his back pocket and pulled out the tablet packet, five left in it. The man took them and popped out three, dropping them on the floor and then crushing them under his foot. He gave the packet back and Thomas turned to take a seat, when the mad raised his arm and whacked him over the head, pushing Thomas to the ground. "Then there's Thomas' head injury."

Minho looked gleeful when he realised he was the only one not listed with a weakness, but then he saw Thomas' state as he clutched to his head in pain and started to feel bad. "It's a long trek, and Thomas can only go three more days. Those tablets are only for a day each! So I suggest you hurry, he looks like he's already in a lot of pain." He laughed, then cleared his throat. "Simply reach the flower, take it, and return. Survive, please." Now he smiled. "Good luck."

His smile was one of nightmares; if his smile got any wider they'd be convinced he was a demon. Caelan already looked scared, trembling where he sat. Caelan reminded Thomas a little bit of Chuck; despite the height difference and Caelan having olive skin, they seemed to share a lot of traits.

A door opened to their right and the boys were blasted with hot, humid air blowing into their faces. They brought up a hand to their faces when sand blew into the room, but then a small breeze came along and gently pushed a pile of it into the room. Outside was just a desert. Endless dunes of sand.

Thomas got up off the floor, hearing a ringing through his head, the room flashing in and out. Newt picked up both their bags and rushed to him before he could fall again. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"I'll be alright.. I'll live for now." He murmured, putting a hand on Newt's arm to stabilise himself. "We should go now, if I'm going to make it back." He gave Newt a look and he understood, nodding."

Newt looked over his shoulder. "You guys ready?" Minho and Caelan nodded. "Then let's go." Newt held Thomas tightly and helped him through the door.

As soon as the door shut with a slam behind him, Thomas detached himself from Newt and began talking. "I know where we're going. I have no idea how long it's going to take but it's highly unlikely that it'll be three days there and back, three days might just be the trip there if we're too slow." Thomas glanced at Caelan. "Our bags should have one bottle of water, a sheet, and a bottle with an X on it. Please don't drink it, it will poison you very slowly until you choke to death."

Minho took his bag off and quickly checked the contents. "How did you know that? What in shuck's name did WICKED do to you?"

"They gave me my memories back. I know everything now. I know what to do, where to go, and I can tell you anything you want along the way but if I say too much they could very well kill us, I'm not even kidding. There's creatures in the sand, and even trapdoors but I don't know if they ever implemented those."

"What about us?"

"It's the same, we all need to be careful."

"No, our past. What do you know of it?"

"Well, there's a lot of it. Let's get moving, I'll tell you whatever, just be more specific about it." Thomas took his bag from Newt, slumping it over his right shoulder. "Come on."

~*~

_"Hey James, if you were going to make a monster, what would it look like?" Thomas asked, tapping his pencil against the table._

_"I wouldn't make one, there's no need for any more monsters in our lives." He answered, reading a book._

_"That's so unhelpful."_

_James smiled. "I'm kidding. I don't know, a snake or something? Whatever people find creepy. Why, anyway?"_

_"Mr Kal wants me to make one, and he said it can be anything but anything is a rather broad topic. My teachers are so weird.."_

_"You're not in our classes anymore, I never get to see you." James and Thomas were fourteen and they were currently in Thomas' room, so Thomas wasn't having to call him Newt._

_School had taken a sharp change; 'Alby' went away to a 'new school', but Thomas knew exactly where he was, he watched him. He knew it was for the best, and his new teacher Mr Kal was using his help to create a second area but they were being a lot more vague about it, and there was rumours about a third trial if needed but Thomas didn't know if he'd still be around to help with it._

_Thomas' eyes lit up and he started scribbling on the page. "I know exactly what to do."_

_"Which is?"_

_"I'm calling it-" he picked up the paper and showed James a rough sketch. "The WKD."_

_~*~_

The sun was setting on their first day in what Newt chose to call the scorch, and all four boys were exhausted already. The sun had lowered in the sky and the temperature dropped, stopping their intense sweating and they were able to take the sheets off their heads.

Newt and Thomas walked at the front, constantly talking to one another while Minho took with rear with trailing Caelan who looked ready to throw up any moment. Just like Chuck, he'd never been good at too much and had the dunny duty.

When the sun finally set, Thomas stopped at the front and waited for the others to catch up. "Okay, we need to slow down if we're going to keep going, and keep quiet. I know I said we need to press on, but the creature in the sand will come running if it detects enough movement and-" Thomas was interrupted by Caelan screaming at something behind them.

The boys turned slowly, coming face to face with a metallic creature looming over them. It looked like a millipede, countless legs that ended in sharp metallic points, eyes glowing a bright red and it wore a sharp toothed grin that definitely wasn't clean; either WICKED had tests Thomas never knew about, or someone was already dead and the thing had only just started appearing. "Don't move." Thomas hissed, "I designed it to act on anything that moves too quickly or talks too loudly."

Caelan was trembling where he stood, looking ready to burst. Minho tried to grab his wrist to stop him from running, but it was too late. "I CAN'T DO THIS!!" Caelan screamed, pulling arm away and running in the direction they came.

The monster let out a shattering screech and it leapt into the air. Its mouth opened and it came flying down, landing directly on top of Caelan and diving into the sand, disappearing underneath the surface. "Otherwise... that happens." Thomas looked at the other two. "Except I don't remember programming it to jump, that wasn't me."

"You designed that thing!?" Minho turned to him in disbelief.

"You called it... a WKD, right?" Newt turned to him and Thomas looked surprised, but then he grinned.

"Yeah, a little play on words. I asked for your help and after you offered making the monster friendly, you came up with a snake idea." Newt now felt he was slightly to blame for what just happened, but he was still too confused to really register Caelan was officially dead. "We were 14, Ably had just gone into the maze."

"Should've made it friendly.." Newt folded his arms. "Caelan wouldn't have just died right in front of us."

"I'm sorry, I didn't exactly know it would be used for this. On us!" He reached out to take his hand but Newt started walking on.

"Let's just keep going. If we're going to make it back together then we have to hurry up."

~*~

The sun started to rise again and the three boys were starting to regret not choosing sleep over this. Minho lead upfront, Newt was a little further back and Thomas was slowing down in the middle, holding to his head as he had been for a couple hours. After a few more steps, he collapsed into the sand. "Minho, wait!" Newt called, "Thomas collapsed!"

Minho turned round and slid down the hill, walking to them. "Tommy, what's wrong?" Newt knelt beside him and raised one arm to keep the sun out of his eyes, but then Minho just stood directly in front of him instead.

"This pain... I can't walk with it anymore. Staying up all night really didn't help, but we've still got three days to go, at least, and I've only got two to survive on! But in this heat and tiredness I don't know if taking one will last to the evening."

"Have a drink, I can go without mine for a while or drink less at the very least. Minho too. Whatever keeps you walking, even if we have to carry you."

"Do you  _want_ the three of us to die out here? Mine hasn't run out yet, I'll  _maybe_ have yours when I'm dry."

"Then at least take a tablet! You'll still have another one if you take one now, and then maybe on day three we carry you back. You said it yourself, we need to keep moving if any of us are going to make it." Newt offered out his hand for Thomas to take.

"Fine.. okay." Thomas took the offered hand and stood back up, pulling his tablet packet from his pocket. "One left, then." He popped it in his mouth and shivered, trying not to gag.

"Are we good now?" Minho asked, a slight annoyance in his tone. "Let's go!"

~*~

Another day went by and the boys were sleep deprived, thirsty, hungry, and in a lot of pain; they were sun burnt, badly, with itching all over their bodies and skin beginning to peel in places. Minho felt like shit, but he felt guilty for mentioning it when Thomas groaned from behind him in his own pain. His head wasn't doing too well, but he refused to take the tablet until he absolutely had to, and he planned for that to be during the day time; so to try and keep it at bay, Newt had given up half his water bottle for him.

As their third night approached, their paces slowed to save energy and try to avoid the WKD. Last night, they felt lucky because the silent approach worked and they didn't so much as hear it.

Tonight, the sand didn't vibrate but they could hear the hum of the beast, occasionally a speck of brown breaking the surface in the horizon. "Maybe we should sit for a while, let it pass." Minho said, still leading the trio in their trek.

"Good idea.." Newt rasped, taking a small sip of water and staring longingly for more. "You good to stop, Tommy?" No answer. "Tommy?" Newt turned round, frowning when he didn't see him where he was just a few moments ago.

He didn't use his name around Minho anymore, because Minho didn't care what he called him, he thought it was sweet. "Where's that shank got off to?" Minho turned back too, and while sarcastic actually worried on his whereabouts.

The sand rumbled again, the creature closer. "There!" Newt pointed to a figure slumped in the sand. "Tommy!" He began running, the ground now shaking beneath their feet.

"Newt, stop!" Minho hissed at him, but he was too quiet. "The creature will hear you!"

He crouched down beside Thomas' body and shook him. "Are you okay? Wake up, we have to move!" A large shadow appeared above them and Newt froze, looking up slowly.

"Newt!"

The WKD was grinning down at the two of them. Newt stared, and it stared back, the red glow of the eyes piercing through him. Its body curled and it let out a mighty screech before springing up in the air. Newt grabbed Thomas and tried to cover his body before it dived back down, swallowing them up.


	18. Chapter 17

 "Newt. Newt. Come on, you have to wake up so we can leave." Someone hissed at him. "Seriously, wake up! I'm not leaving you behind!"

Pain was everywhere, his head throbbed, and his mind was foggier than a blind man's vision; he could just about remember being enveloped by darkness and hitting a hard wall, but after that.. Newt opened his eyes to a shadow looming over him. "Tommy?" The shadow breathed a sigh of relief. "Where are we?"

He sat up and their heads collided. Thomas cried out in surprise and fell back onto his ankles. "Ow.. The WKD swallowed us, but I don't really know how we're alive.."

"You did say WICKED couldn't let you die. How nice of them to spare me too, but its teeth had blood on them so surely other people must be in here too? Even if.. yeah?"

"If they survived, and didn't find a way out, then they probably roasted to death. If this thing is still anything like I remember it, it lies in the sun and cooks the victims inside their body, kind of like how a snake digests its prey." Newt vaguely remembered him suggesting the snake figure, so now he just felt slightly angry at Thomas for being so easily influenced. "Guess I did steal quite a bit of your idea, huh?"

"Stop joking about it! Just tell me how we're getting out of this death trap before I have to think about how horrible being cooked to death is? I don't want to think about Caelan or anyone else right now."

"If we wait for it to lie down-" Newt heard scuffling as Thomas stood up, followed by a thump when he fell back down. "I think I need to lie down too. I can barely stand with his headache let alone walk straight. I don't know what WICKED are getting out of this, I don't see what me being in immense pain does to help them! Maybe they messed up the surgery.."

Newt reached forward and found his elbow, then followed his arm up until he found his face so he could stroke his hair. "I'm not going to leave you in here, nor am I going to let us die in here; Minho is alone out in that scorch and all he has is his sense of direction."

"He had most of the supplies, he'll probably be fine.. If- when, we get out of this thing, it's probably safer to head back. If we keep going forward we might surpass the middle completely."

Newt sighed, they were so screwed. Even if they did get out, who knew where in the desert they were; people who got swallowed by the WKD weren't supposed to survive. Not to mention their water supply was currently less than half a bottle between them, so either Newt squeezed it back or they both died out in the heat.

Thomas felt slightly better and got up to stumble around the place, walking into walls and tapping on them for any platforms or rough edges they could either climb or pull off. "There's a few loose panels here, and it's going to be painful but we'll be able to get out." Thomas spoke, breaking the silence.

"How do we know this thing isn't currently underground?" Newt stood up and felt around the walls to try and find him, but still managed to walk into him.

"I think these panels lead back up to the mouth. Unless WICKED decided to program this thing mathematically and we're actually moving without any acceleration.. we could be stationary anywhere. When it decides to move, or maybe it already is, we just have to wait."

Newt opened his mouth to ask a question but they both heard a male scream and suddenly light flooded where they stood, making both boys squint. The creature roared, making the floor shake. "Newt, you climb first, I'll be right behind you."

He looked cautious, unsure if Thomas would end up staying behind or collapsing halfway up and he wouldn't be able to catch him; but with one hand gripping a curled back panel and a foot resting on a stuck out screw, Newt pushed himself up and began to climb.

The screams of whoever it was outside were extremely distracting, but it gave Newt the time he needed to reach the top. He could hear Thomas below him, boots scraping against the wall and some crashing as his body whacked into the wall. "What now?" Newt called back down.

He'd reached the top and could peer out its mouth, worried that if he touched a tooth then the mouth would clamp shut and he'd be torn in two, or at least lose a limb. "Wait for an opportunity, then push yourself out."

"And if we're high off the ground?"

"It's either jump, or stay in here and wait to be roasted, Newt. It's up to you when and if you go."

Thomas seemed to have dropped any affection for him now that they were up here, no doubt the stress of their situation taking over, distracting him. Despite popular belief, they weren't always on each other's mind.. just mostly.

Newt gripped the base of two of its teeth, and once he made sure the creature wouldn't shut on him, Thomas helped to shove him out, propping him up just long enough to pop out before its body lurched back up into the air.

He landed with a thud in the sand, winding him, but he was otherwise unharmed. Newt rolled onto his back and could see Thomas peering out, barely holding on as the creature turned its head in confusion to find where Newt came from.

Newt suddenly cringed when he looked to his side and saw a mangled body, so mangled he couldn't make out who it was. He tried not to look for too long to try and find out. "Tommy, jump! I'll catch you!" He yelled up at him, grabbing the monster's attention.

Thomas could only groan at him. Did he not listen when he said the monster responded to sound? The monster's mouth widened when it finally laid eyes on him and it thrusts its head forward to get a better look at him. Thomas was thrown forward but got caught on one of the stick legs, crying out in pain at the impact. "Newt, you idiot!" He yelled back at him, gasping at the grip as it cut into his skin. "It's sensitive to sound! You fucking blew it!"

Newt tried to find something that could help, but all he could was watch Thomas struggle; all there was just sand and sand and sand and sand... and a dead body. He watched Thomas writhe around, but something made the monster suddenly jitter and it screeched, dropping Thomas and he screamed as he plummeted to the ground with a much larger thud.

The creature writhed, as if something was making it uncomfortable, and it quickly burrowed back underneath the sand. Thomas wasn't moving very much, but he looked like he was trying. "Tommy! Oh my god Tommy I'm so so sorry! I-I wasn't thinking I just-" Newt was rambling as he ran over to him, but Thomas cut him off.

"Shut up." He wheezed, an arm wrapped around his stomach. "Save the sob story for later."

"Are you hurt?" Newt pulled his arm away and saw his tee had a red band near the bottom, so he pulled it up and saw a thin cut right across Thomas; abdomen. "Tommy you're really hurt! Was that the legs?"

"Yeah.. Guess it's not just the ends that are pointy, the entire thing is just one big knife.." Thomas groaned as he tried to sit up, causing the wound to bleed more. "I'll be fine.. Help me up, we need to keep going, but then again I don't know what way we're facing right now."

"What if I found a stone shack? Does that help?"

"That's.. oddly specific, but it would mean we're pretty close to where they've put our item." Newt helped Thomas to stand up, still clutching to his stomach and making small noises of pain.

"Then I think I found our new refuge for the day; or at least a few hours to gather our bearings and make up a new plan. I'm still buzzing from climbing and falling out a metal death trap." Newt pointed in the distance, "see? Stone shack!"

"Then let's hope it's ours." Newt put Thomas' arms over his shoulders to support and they began to hobble towards it.

"Ours?"

"Everyone has one in their own paths, and if it's our then maybe Minho is still there or he'll leave something to say he was there and we can catch up to him. He can go back with you, so you can finish the next trials yourselves."

"Ourselves? Tommy, what are you talking about?" Thomas hid his face in Newt's neck when the wind blew, feeling the sand pelt against him. "Tommy speak to me."

"I need to sit down. Just get there already."

~*~

The sun was fully risen now, and the two boys hid from its harsh midday rays inside the stone shack. Thomas sat leaning against the back will with his hands clutching to his head and Newt was pacing around. There had been a chest that they opened containing water and a detailed map for the rest of their journey; but nothing for Thomas' headache. "Don't you have a tablet left?"

"I don't know if you remember being eaten and then spat out by a metal death trap, but funnily enough the packet must've fallen out my pocket." Thomas saw Newt's expression, making him feel bad. "Sorry.. I don't know where the packet went."

"Then can you explain what you said earlier?" He asked instead, starting to get rather angry as he squeezed an empty water bottle in his hand.

"Explain what?"

"You said Minho and I would do the next trial by ourselves, what's that all about?"

Thomas let out a small laugh, but it wasn't happy. "I've been eavesdropping, don't trust anyone, okay? Not even yourself." Newt rolled his eyes, that wasn't hard. "Things are going to happen to your brain, there's a little device. Mine was removed, that's why I remember everything, I'm not controlled, but you and everyone else still can. Only trust me, but I don't know if I'm going to be there."

"Tommy, you're worrying me."

"I don't know what to tell you, Newt. You need to take the map and go. I'd rather die here that drag you down and eat away at your resources." Newt looked angry, and Thomas knew he had to make him leave. "Don't you get it? They're not expecting me to come back with you, they knew Caelan was going to die the moment they got him back, he was weak. If they haven't intervened now, I don't think they going to."

"Tommy, you're talking a bunch of nonsense. I'm not just going to-"

"You have to."

... "Tommy, for the love of god I'm not leaving without you!" Newt knelt in front of him, taking Thomas' hands from his head and held them in his own, feeling the fingertips wet. "Hey- you're bleeding..."

"Was I clutching that hard?" Thomas pulled one hand back and felt where he'd been clutching, and there were indeed fingernail shaped holes that hurt to touch. "Newt, I honestly don't have the strength to stand anymore, and I'm either going to bleed out from my stomach or I'll give myself an aneurysm."

"You shouldn't have had that stupid surgery! We could easily have got here without it! I mean we survived getting eaten by a monster that took us right to the middle! You can't just give up now!"

"Newt, don't. If I leave I'll probably get heat stroke. Just go, okay? I know you'll make it, you'll do fine out in the real world. Just get the stupid flower."

The angry in his eyes disappeared, and now he just looked upset and scared. "Tommy, I'm not leaving without you!" He held onto his face, trying to look him in the eyes but Thomas wouldn't look at him. "Look at me, tell me you're lying. Tell me!"

"Why would I lie?" Thomas gave him a short glance, but then quickly looked back at the ground. "Newt... I love you. Just do this for me. Leave me behind and save yourself, do that for me. I care more about keeping you safe."

"I said I'm not leaving without you!" Newt's vision grew blurry from tears and he looked down at the ground. "I can't leave you again. Not after all we've been through together, everything we've done to get here. Out of everyone I've met, I may feel like I've known you the least amount of time but you remember our past together, you remember us before all this hell began! I want to know about it, I want to sit with you on a sofa or in a bed and hear all about it! With you!"

"Newt, don't cry... I'm not worth your tears, I'm really not." Thomas made a noise of pain. "You're going to give yourself a headache."

"Oh just- just stop caring about me! Okay!?" He sniffed. "I want to get through these trials with you, whatever happens afterwards whether we're free or if it never ends or if we're just executed then at least we'll be together! I knew the moment I saw you come up in that box that I couldn't lose you, and I'm not willing to lose you now."

"Maybe WICKED will come get me? I know now that those serums for that Mourner only came up because I was struck, they wouldn't have come otherwise. It's going to apply here, they'll probably come once you leave."

"I'm not willing to take that chance."

"You're going to have to." Thomas groaned and bowed his head, wrapping an arm around his stomach. "I don't want you to see my pain."

"Tommy-"

"Newt, you have to go. If I don't see you again, just remember me from the good old days, yeah? Maybe you'll get memories back, and you'll remember our shared past, and our.." Thomas smiled. "Lost future. Even if you don't the memories are never lost, they're just locked away and that's where you'll find me." Thomas lifted his shaking hands and pulled Newt's head down, kissing his forehead. "In here."

"I love you Tommy... I love you so much." Newt kissed him on the lips instead. "So much.." He was definitely crying now, and he could only kiss so long before he needed to breathe or to sob.

Thomas looked out the window. "The sun is past midday now, it's gonna get easier for you. Get the stupid flower and keep going, it's a straight line. I promise you'll be back in a couple days at most. You can make it."

Newt was quiet, forcing back his cries. "Okay..." He whispered, taking in a shaky breath. "I'll... I'll go."

"Thank you.." They kissed again and Newt stood up. "Remember I'll always love you. I might even see you soon. I love you."

"I love you too." Newt felt something wave over him, something unfamiliar. "I'll miss you." He packed everything he could in his rucksack, leaving a bottle in case Minho hadn't come along yet.

He stood at the doorway, looking back one last time. "Go..." Thomas gave a small smile and closed his eyes, hoping he could go in his sleep.

Newt nodded, his body taking one step outside but his brain looking back. He suddenly ran forward, stopping himself from looking back. All he could was run, run, run. Tears flowed down his cheeks, but he didn't even bother to wipe them off.

He could only presume Thomas went peacefully, but he couldn't shake this current feeling. Something was wrong, he shouldn't have been so willing to leave. Looking back, there was nothing more he could do, the shack was already disappearing from his sight. Thomas was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I missed an update guys, I've had flu all week and I was just out for the count until today! Back on track now!


	19. Chapter 18

Newt hadn't expected to meet anyone on his journey forward, just a hot and lonely trek to the middle and beyond. He found the flower, it was fairly obvious with the bright blue clay pot it sat in, burning Newt's hands when he bent down to touch it. Typical, WICKED didn't need them at all, pots don't spontaneously appear in the middle of a scorch, a blue one at that.

It made him wonder if this whole place was fake, like the maze, and it was just one big elaborate set? Was he really on earth right now? Real, earth? If it was, then where were the cities? Buildings? Surely not all of it had been burnt to the ground from heat alone? There wasn't even rubble in the sand, it was just.. sand. Maybe it really did destroy everything, Newt couldn't remember, and he had no way of asking for the answer either. "I'm sorry, Tommy..." He muttered to himself.

It only just occurred to Newt that since the flower was still there, it meant Minho definitely hadn't made it to the centre before him. He hadn't even thought to wait with Thomas, wait for Minho to arrive. When he walked away and again when he saw the flower, he felt a wave of emotion that made him stop care about them, stop thinking about anyone, he wanted to hurt them. It wasn't right, and it made Newt push forward.

The WICKED was on the horizon now, maybe only a day's walk away, and Newt was starting to regret all his choices. He should have carried Thomas on his shoulders, waited for Minho in the shack, convinced Thomas to carry on.. but now he was alone with just a piping hot flower pot in his hands and a half empty rucksack on his back. Maybe he was sick. Maybe he was depressed, maybe if he hadn't left his boyfriend to die alone in a stone shack he wouldn't feel so weighted down with guilt. Newt tried to supress it, but the thoughts kept coming back in.

In the night, Newt could hear the WKD slithering around underground, but his slow pace and lack of speech kept him safe the entire trip. There were bags under his eyes and he kept blinking constantly so that he didn't fall asleep, feeling his limp slowing him down every step, like a weight was tied to it.  _A weight of guilt,_ he thought.

Newt was nearing the entrance when he heard someone yell his name from behind. Newt turned round, but he didn't see anyone. Another yell, but still nothing. "Wait up you damn shank!" Newt was starting to wonder if he was going completely crazy, but he stood still anyway. "Your right!"

"I'm right?"

A few moments. " _Look_ to your right! Idiot!" Newt turned and saw a lump approaching, too big to be one person. "Come over here!"

Yep. He was crazy. Newt headed towards the shape, a sudden urge building up inside him that told him to get ready for a fight, get ready for attack. His hands turned into fists and he started running; he wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, to fight back this feeling, but when he tripped over a slight bump in the sand the feeling completely disappeared.

Newt just waited for the figure to him instead, two feet appearing in front of his face. "I'd love to offer a hand but they're kind of full, so get up." It was Minho. Newt looked up, a wild look in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

He shut his eyes and shook his head then reopened them, the look gone. "Fine." He stood up and let out a cry of surprise when he realised Minho had Thomas over his shoulders, wrists tied with a rucksack strap to keep them around his neck and Minho had his arms under his thighs to hold him up. "You're..."

"I can't believe you left him behind like that! The shuck is wrong with you!?"

"But.. He's..."

"He's what? I found him barely awake, overheating, dehydrated, half awake in some stone shack! He said you went on ahead! What was going through your mind!?"

"But he said... He told me to leave.. He said he was.." Newt looked defeated.

Minho just rolled his eyes. "You slinthead. Well you got what we came for, let's just go back so Thomas can get some help, and you're clearly not thinking straight but we can talk later."

Newt felt the urge to hit him bubbling up, but he pushed the feelings down and just turned back towards the WICKED complex, opening the door so Minho could carry Thomas inside.

The door swung shut behind them and engulfed the boys in darkness, the sound of a spray being released and Minho began to cough, but he couldn't smell anything. "What on earth is that?" He asked, but Newt didn't answer, he was clutching to his head and hissing through his teeth.

He banged his fist against the wall, taking in deep breaths. He just felt so  _angry._ He wanted to rip at Minho's skin, yell at him to shut up even though he wasn't speaking, he wanted to  _attack_. With a yell, Newt collapsed at Minho's feet, unconscious.

~*~

Thomas was given his tablets again and plenty of rest. WICKED acted shocked to see him in such a state, but Minho didn't trust any of them, especially when they took Newt away from him without a single word and he hadn't seen him since.

After a couple days not being allowed out the infirmary, Thomas got up to walk around, watching others still surviving out in the scorch through computer monitors. He knew exactly where Newt was once he was told what happened, he knew how angry he would be with him, because Thomas knew the truth and he'd kept it a secret from him.

Minho was worried sick, told Newt was in a room all by himself and he wasn't allowed out, and nobody was technically allowed in. When Minho finally found Thomas roaming the corridors, faking a smile at him, Minho grabbed his arm. "Why are you avoiding Newt? He was so worried about you, he doesn't know you're up, and yet here you are perfectly fine wandering around the place watching my friends die!"

"He's going to hate me if I see him; and everyone is fine, only four people have actually been eaten."

Minho looked offended at how lightly he made it sound. "Thanks for the reassurance." Thomas rolled his eyes; what had gotten into him? "Go. You know fully well where Newt is, don't leave him any longer. Alone. Nobody to talk to. Afraid."

"Okay, I'm going!"

Thomas pulled his arm back and turned round, going back the way he came and beyond to where Newt was being held. The darkness WICKED kept mentioning was a sickness that covered the earth, killing well over half the population, infecting those not immune and dooming them to a slow and painful death; unless they found a cure, which WICKED were in the process of hopefully making. Newt, was infected.

Everything the groups had been collected contributed to the cure, which WICKED were almost certain would work and they knew how to make it; but supplies were short and there wasn't a lot they could do about it. That's why some groups were still out there, finding the harder to get ingredients, that were actually in the scorch rather than potted neatly to be picked up and carried. With Thomas so vital to WICKED, his group automatically got the easiest job, and if Minho hadn't carried him back then WICKED would have picked him up. It was explained to him that it was a test of his friends, and Newt's mental state, and he failed the test.

Newt's room. A door in the middle of a wall. Inside were no windows, just white walls, a desk with a chair, and a toilet with a sink in the corner that had a curtain to give him at least a little bit of privacy. "What do you think you're doing?" A woman asked, seeing Thomas reach for the door handle. "Nobody is allowed in."

"I'm seeing Newt." Thomas answered, slightly hoping she'd try to stop him.

"U-uh that's not suggestable.. Even for you Thomas, the darkness is developing and it's made him unstable." Okay, now Thomas really wanted to see him but  _really_ didn't want to at the same time.

"I'll take my chances." Newt was going to be so mad, he just hoped he was sane inside.

"Yell if you need help, we're constantly monitoring him." Thomas nodded and opened the door, poking his head in first and hearing some whispers come to a quick halt.

"Newt?" Thomas called, stepping inside and shutting the door.

He was stood in the far left corner, leaning against it and looked down at his hands which were visibly trembling, sometimes twitching. "How nice of you to visit Tommy... How nice of you to  _lie to me!"_ His head snapped up, his pupils dilated; an early symptom of darkness. "How nice..."

Darkness wasn't the most creative name in the world, but when the population is falling rapidly in front of your eyes, naming the disease doesn't become a top priority. "I'm really sorry, I knew you'd panic if I told you about the darkness and I thought that if you left me behind then you could get back here quicker! For treatment! WICKED could look after you-"

"Slinthead! Does it look like I'm being bloody looked after!? I'm going shuck crazy in here!" His voice had risen to a shout, his shaking hands curling into shaking fists.

"I can help change that! Not many of the workers are immune like me, they're just afraid. I can explain it, I can explain everything! Caelan? Yeah, he wasn't immune, l-like you, but of course he.. got eaten."

"So I'm the only one? The only one doomed to die!? If I was going to die then why was I put in the maze with you lot!?"

"No, there's others still in the scorch who aren't immune! They're helping get ingredients for the cure! WICKED know how to make it, they just can't get to them all. You weren't the only one in the maze, it was a mixture." Thomas couldn't tell him what really happened; his sister, his parents...

"So what's wrong with sending some bloody helicopters? There's enough technology to make a robot collect it! They created that monster, it's just another sick game! You're talking klunk, Tommy! I want real answers!" He approached Thomas but didn't do anything, standing centimetres apart. "If you don't give me answers then I'm not sorry for my next actions."

Thomas didn't say anything, he brought his hands up and cupped Newt's face. After a few moments Newt softened, his gaze dropped and his fists uncurled. "I made you go on because worrying increases activity in the brain that the darkness feeds on, and I need you to be as safe as possible so that while resources are still being collected I know your brain isn't working overtime. Once it's made, I'm making sure that you're going to be the first one to have it."

"If it takes too long? What going to happen to me?" Newt kept his gaze down, but he put his hands on Thomas' shoulders and let them rest there.

"You're going to lose control of your temper, you won't be aware of your actions. It's not something that's so easily repressed, it's going to keep bubbling up time and time again until it becomes stronger than you."

"Then I shouldn't suppress it? Shouldn't try and stay myself?"

"No, that's giving up, but I'm telling you what happens to others.. to my dad." Newt frowned, wondering about his own parents. "You lose yourself, your pupils dilate until your iris is gone and then your white goes black; you get angry, you want to scream at nothing, it doesn't need a trigger. Then your skin changes, it'll blister and bleed, and it's going to be really painful. People tend to lose their minds and that point, either out of pain or panic; and if you don't kill yourself, then your mind is taken over by the darkness and you're turned into some violent zombie. You just wander around covered in veins and blisters, your only thoughts being to kill anything that moves."

Newt tightened his grip and rested his forehead near Thomas' collarbone. "Am I going to blister soon?"

"No.." Thomas put his arms round Newt's waist in a loose hug. "Not for a while, if you stay like this you'll slow down how quickly it spreads. The more you worry, the more it spreads. You're still in control of your anger, mostly, and your eyes are only a little dilated.. You'll be okay..." He rested his cheek on Newt's head, tightening the hug. "I'm not going to let you die, I promise."

They were quiet for a little while, Newt taking some comfort in the embrace. He'd been craving it for so long. "Wait.." He lifted his head. "In the shack, you warned me about trusting Minho, the things in our heads.. What was that all about?"

"That's to come later, in the next trial, but don't worry it's not for a good while. Maybe it won't even happen, I'm not sure. Just remember to only trust who has their memories back, they can't be controlled."

"Then how do I know it's not just WICKED making me cranky?"

"You'd know, and so would I. It feels completely different." Thomas kissed his forehead, lingering for a couple seconds. "Don't think about it, just think about us. I'll get you out this room," he was whispering now, "you'll come be with the rest of us."

"I'll wait up for you." Newt whispered back, pulling away from the hug and just holding Thomas' hands between them. "Please hurry, this room is driving me insane."

"That's exactly what I want to avoid. I'll see you soon, okay?" Thomas kissed his forehead again and retreated to the door, taking one last glance back at Newt; but he had already turned, facing the wall again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all the silent readers, I hope you're still enjoying this fic! :D Astral I know you are ;)


	20. Chapter 19

If someone asked Thomas to tell them a fact, any fact at all, he would tell them that Janson is the biggest prick he had ever had the misfortune of meeting. He was in charge of everything, and he refused to listen to a word Thomas was saying;, including his proposition to get Newt out. "Why not!?" Thomas growled, following him around. "He's deteriorating in that room, he's not calm at all!"

"He's a liability, he'll attack everyone if you let him get away." Janson replied, trying to ignore him. "Also, he could infect another boy. You may be immune but you can certainly carry it."

"As if you would know. He'll slow down if he's with everyone else, not some walls that are whiter than your fake teeth!" Jason glanced at him. "I'll make sure he keeps his distance from the ones that aren't. Even if he does you'll have the cure soon, you simply administer it to everyone. You want him to live, don't you?"

"All that would accomplish is adding an extra immune male, but we need more women, their trials aren't going according to plan." Thomas rolled his eyes. "If he gets it then he gets it. If he doesn't that it really isn't that big of a matter."

"Fine. Try and stop me."

Thomas spun on his heel and stormed his way to Newt's room, swinging open the door and being greeted with an attack that pushed him to the ground. "Took you long enough!" Newt hissed, whacking Thomas' head into the ground. "Am I leaving this bloody place or what!?" Thomas could see his Newt trying to fight through, his eyes looked lost, but he was losing control.

"If you didn't attack me that would be great-" Newt hit his head and Thomas groaned at the pain. "You're not giving me the signs of good health! I'm breaking you out, I don't have permission!"

Newt leant in close to his face to threaten him again, but his expression suddenly softened and he scrambled off of his body. "I-I'm so sorry-"

"It's fine.." Thomas sat up and gingerly touched the back of his head, not feeling any cuts. "You're strong..."

Newt came back over and hugged him in apology, one hand going to the back of his head and stroking his hair. "I'm losing it, Tommy."

"Yeah, I can tell." Thomas hugged him back, half enjoying it but half worried Newt could tighten his grip any moment. "Janson isn't letting me get you out, and attacking me as soon as I open the door isn't going to help your case. I'm breaking you out, but if you're not in control..."

"I understand.. Has anyone else come back yet? With some more stuff?"

"Everyone is back except for the last group, but we can't find them anywhere on surveillance so WICKED is beginning to think they all died. Minho and a couple others might be sent back out to do the mission for them."

"Back out there... Tommy, please," Newt tightened his grip, but not in a threatening manner. "I don't want to be in here, I want to be with you. Just one day. I don't know my around, I was knocked out with some gas and woke up here and I haven't left it since. I want to know where you've all been."

"It's not going to be easy with cameras everywhere, especially if you lash out. Maybe WICKED wants me to get you out."

"Oh forget about them. Even if they don't and we just get to the others before they tackle me to the ground, I don't care! I want out!" Newt quickly pulled away before he could hurt Thomas and violently shook his head, realising his voice had risen. "I'm trying my best here."

"Come on then, let's go." Thomas took Newt's hand and pulled him out the room, kicking it shut behind them.

Newt let go of his hand and snaked his arm around Thomas' waist instead, his head tilted so it was on his shoulder. He kept his gaze down, almost feeling guilty for being sick, like it was his own fault that he might die and leave everyone behind.

They were about to go into the bedroom when Newt suddenly stopped. "Tommy, I need to ask you something first." He said, still looking down.

"What is it?"

"I..." Newt was quiet for a while. "Nothing."

"Are you sure?" He nodded. "You can tell me if anything is wrong.." Thomas let go and stood in front of Newt, tilting his chin up to look at him. "Is it being sick? Don't worry, I promise that I'm going to keep you safe." Newt continued to avoid his gaze, so Thomas simply kissed his forehead and brought him inside.

Everyone's fussing seemed to cheer Newt up a little bit, so Thomas let him enjoy time with everyone else and sat on his own bed. He had a notebook that he wrote in sometimes; not a diary, more of a checklist that he'd predicted to happen. Maybe he was turning into WICKED, but he couldn't guess where they would be in the future. Maybe there was no third trial, maybe they would just be massacred, maybe things would fail, maybe they'd be released into the world and live their lives; Thomas didn't have a clue.

Minho had been away to get briefed about their new mission, he and a couple others having to go back out and collect a herb. Seeing him out stopped him being so angry around Thomas, talking to Newt about when he found Thomas in the shack and what he did. Eventually Newt went back over to Thomas and everyone left them in peace. "I feel a lot better now, seeing everyone. What about the people who aren't in here?"

"This is everyone.. we're all mourning in our own ways." Thomas wasn't, he barely knew anyone who had died out there. "You can scream and shout if you like, a couple others have done that."

"As much as I'd like to, I know that it's not me doing the shouting. Is there somewhere private we can go? Just you and me for a little while..." Newt leant his head on Thomas' shoulder, closing his eyes to try and relax. "We haven't had the chance to just be alone since we got out."

"There's a maintenance cupboard nearby, it's slightly bigger than a regular cupboard and there's no cameras?"

"Sounds perfect. I also really need to talk to you, it's important."

Thomas frowned and looked down at him, but Newt had opened his eyes and was looking across the room at the opposite wall. "Alright.."

He took Newt's hand again and they started on their walk. It was surprising they didn't meet any WICKED along the way, but they were either very lucky or, the more likely answer, they were letting Thomas have Newt out for the day. He looked upset again, but also calm, and angry, and everything else in between. "There's a light in there, right?"

"Course."

Newt was silent until they got there, letting Thomas in first and then shut the door behind them. Thomas switched the light on, casting a yellow glow on Newt's face; he looked at the ground, anxiously rubbing at his arm and he winced, pulling his hand back. "Tommy, I need a really big favour." Thomas took his arm and looked at it. "I'm further than you think."

Newt pulled it back and took his top off, revealing a couple blisters on his left shoulders and along his upper right arm. "Are those..?"

"I'm blistering, Tommy. I'm afraid to just scratch an itch because my skin is the consistency of a snowflake. I'll just cut the skin even though I've chewed my nails as far as they'll go, they couldn't be any less sharp, and then those cuts blister and if I itch a blister it just cuts!"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think anything of it, I thought maybe it was just sensitive from being out in the scorch, but then you told me the stages and I gave it a little while but they hurt. They hurt like klunk, Tommy."

"I... I-I can get you medicine, it prolongs the symptoms! It'll be long enough to get you the cure."

Newt shook his head. "When they told me I was sick and I could die, I promised myself that I wouldn't commit suicide, not again; but if I lose control, if I go crazy..." Newt pulled a gun out his pocket and placed it in Thomas' hand, but he flinched away and it dropped to the floor. "I need you to do it for me."

"W-what!? Newt, you're crazy! You  _will_ get the cure, alright? You're not thinking straight, and that's okay, I don't expect you to be completely with it right now but there is no way on earth that I'm going to.. to kill you!" He pausd. "Only if we really can't get it to you, because once you're consumed there's no going back.. that we're currently aware of."

"I don't want to make it that far! I don't want to experience losing myself, feel my sanity drain away, watch myself attack my friends when I'm yelling at myself from the inside to stop even when I know I won't stop! I don't want to be angry all the time, I don't want to fight anyone, I don't want any of it! I don't want this pain! The pain I'm already in will amount to  _nothing_ compared to what I'll feel once I'm gone! What if I never truly disappear? What if I'm always aware that I've become a monster?"

Thomas was speechless. He didn't know Newt was so upset. Could he do it? Would he be forced to? Thomas bent down and picked the gun up, turning it over in his hands. "This gun... Is going nowhere near you, you hear me? Only if you really beg and whine, if you get truly vulnerable, and you'll be... better off. Only then. Understand?"

Newt nodded, watching Thomas tuck the gun behind a box out of sight. "If the cure arrives, then we can destroy it or throw it away or something. If it doesn't... you know where it lives. Just not in front of the others, please?" Thomas didn't answer him, he could feel tears brimming in his eyes just at thought of having to...

"Okay."

~*~

Thomas stood in an IT room, watching the monitors as Minho and a couple others had set out to get the last ingredient; it was a mineral, one that could be found by finding where the sand had turned red from it; the rest of the desert was very pale yellow as it was made up of building ash and dust.

The database showed that the missing group had all died of dehydration, with one of their bodies finally being found but the other two were missing, either buried under the sand from the wind or swallowed and cooked by the WKD.

Thomas hadn't mentioned to Newt that Minho had gone, he knew he was 'meant' to go, but he planned on lying and saying Minho wasn't chosen if he ever asked; if he knew Minho was back out there, Thomas knew it would make the blond worry and that was the last thing he needed. He'd seen him twice in the past couple days, and he seemed the same with the blisters staying as they are and he was still in control of himself.

Six days. He needed to last six more days, that's how long the expedition was planned to be. They secretly gave Newt a concoction called 'dawn' that prolonged his symptoms, slowing the darkness down, and hopefully giving him enough time to survive until the others got back. Leaving the maze and trudging through the scorch with Thomas in constant pain sent Newt's brain into a frenzy, so when they got him back they knew he was unsafe to be around. The darkness spread like wildfire on the last day.

Thomas zoomed in on Minho, seeing a sheet tied over his head to try and keep the harsh rays off him. This was all there was to do, visit Newt and watch his best friend to make sure no harm came his way. The WKD was still active, but Minho knew how to stay safe. He'd be fine, he had plenty of supplies...

A hand was suddenly on his shoulder and Thomas jumped, his thoughts interrupted. "Sorry, but there's someone here to see you." Thomas frowned at the man who was stood a little too close to him. "We cannot keep them waiting."

"Who is it?"

"Follow me." They turned and Thomas' frown deepened, but he obeyed and followed the man through the winding corridors and out to an area that looked like an old reception room.

The room was a tip; chairs were turned over, the carpet was torn, a broken light hung by its bare wires in the ceiling, and the automatic door had been taped permanently shut... Except now, because there was a large hole in the middle of it where something-or someone- broke through.

A woman was sat on one of the few upright seats, looking out the door, so she must've been the one who broke it; she had her hands in her lap quite calmly, a large cut over the back of one of them. "Merissa." The man called and she turned a head. "I brought him." Something struck a nerve in Thomas, but he couldn't tell what it was.

She smiled and stood up, taking a couple steps towards them and the WICKED man stepped back. There was a large blisters on her cheek and her left eye was completely black, but her right eye still had the white left; she wore long sleeves and leggings, the only skin being her hands, neck, and face, all of which were blistered. "Hi, Thomas. I'm sorry about breaking the door, I didn't mean to... you understand why did though, don't you?"

That voice... Tears were in his eyes. This couldn't be real, this woman had the darkness, and was far through it; but that's not why Thomas wanted to cry, he wouldn't care if she were simply a stranger. No, Thomas felt heartbroken. She... "Mum."


	21. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hahahha what can I say I was feeling cruel

 "I knew I'd find you here." Merissa smiled, stepping closer towards Thomas but he copied her actions backward. "What's wrong?"

"How...?" Thomas was gobsmacked, wanting to run and hug her but at the same time he felt like this was the first time meeting her, his memories of her were vague, once he started properly helping WICKED he stopped going home as much as everyone else.

"I know it's been a while, but when I started developing the darkness like your father did... I knew I had to see you one last time." Thomas felt like such a wuss, crying, but it was in front of his mother and somehow that made him feel okay.

"Mum, I.. I thought you were.. You're not immune? Like me? Why not? Why am I immune are you're not!?"

"You were part of a test group, they injected children 6 years and under so you just got allowed, and it worked. It became compulsory but it wasn't perfect, kids were dying from it and others weren't getting the injection, but the other minority became immune like you. It was to stop children getting the darkness as they got older, or at that age. You had a younger brother, but.. he didn't wake up from the injection."

"Killing children!? That's sick!"

"It was WICKED's choice. When you were four years old you were showing signs of what they wanted in children, this was before the earth got hit, and I signed you up for their small trials, but when it finally came around to them doing anything the darkness was spreading and they suddenly changed their minds and we couldn't back out the contract. We moved to the complex across the country and when you were twelve you were taken from me for the trials."

Thomas wanted to be mad, it was WICKED's fault, and it made him wonder how everyone else came to be at the complex, was Newt's sister signed up? That didn't explain why his parents were killed, though. "So why are you here now?"

"Like I said, I wanted to see you one last time. I thought the trials might be over now, and if you were still here, I wanted to say goodbye." Now Thomas pitied her, approaching her and letting her pull him into a hug. "Oh Thomas.. I missed you so much, I love you so much."

"I-I don't know.. They took my memories when the trials started, I only got them back a little while ago; but.. I feel like I missed you too." His arms came around her waist and he had a flashback, to when he was little and stood on his tiptoes to hug his mother's waist. "Hey- we're only a week away from getting the cure! You should stay! We can heal you!"

She suddenly squeezed him tightly to the point of pain and Thomas squealed. "Don't you get me anywhere near that WICKED  _scum._ " She hissed in his ear, then rapidly pulled away and stood back. "I'm not going to make it a week, Thomas." She smiled now, a sad smile.

"We can still try! Please! Even if you're just here until the end, we still have to try. For me?"

She looked uncertain, like she didn't want to go any further into the building, the only thing keeping her indoors being Thomas. "For you."

Thomas' eyes lit up and he took one of her hands in both of his. "I can take you to one of the rooms, they're not the best but you can meet Newt!.. Again? He's got it too, but he's not as far, he can keep you company!" He was rambling now, half dragging her deep into WICKED's complex.

Quite a few people asked questions, but after Thomas explained, he was confused not to be met with any opposition. They entered Newt's room and he turned to look who it was, surprised to see Thomas holding some middle aged woman's blistered hand. "Who's that, Tommy?" He asked, indicating her with a flick of his head.

"It's my mum." Newt's eyes widened, though it was hard to tell now that his iris were gone from his eyes. "She's gonna keep you company until the cure gets here." She gave Newt a sad smile, and he instantly knew what Thomas didn't. "Is that okay with you?"

"Sure. I could do with someone else around here before the walls make me go crazy. For all I know, I've met her before and I can hear stories about it." Thomas seemed happy with that answer.

"Great! I'll be back later, okay? I need to check on the others!" Thomas gave his mum a gentle nudge further into the room and he stepped back out, shutting the door with him.

~*~

He'd returned to the computer room to check on Minho. It was also a good way to tell what time of day it was, considering the rest of the where Thomas and the others spent their time was away from windows, and outside the bedroom window faced another wall and they couldn't see the sun. Currently, it was evening, the sun was setting, and the group of boys had sat down to eat in the sand and catch their breath.

His mum was still on his mind; she had sounded so sure that she was going to die before the cure came, and when Thomas brought her in Newt didn't say anything. Was she right? Was there something they knew about? Thomas couldn't possibly understand what it was like to have the darkness, and the pain from it was certainly one aspect, so did Newt know what his mum was going through? She had a blister on her cheek and her hands, were there more under her clothes? It kept him up at night, unable to fall asleep with the feeling that if he did go to sleep then he would wake up an orphan.

He had eaten dinner in the white room with her, asking what the outside world was like. Newt had already eaten, so he spent most of dinner eating slowly and staring at the ground to try and distract himself from itching his skin. It was a vicious cycle; his skin itched because of blisters, but if he itched them then they'd bleed, so the cuts would get irritated and turn into blisters. There was only five more days to go, he just had to keep going that much longer.

_"Mummy, where are we going?" Thomas asked, sitting upright so he could look out the car window._

_He can't have been older than three or four, sat in a car-seat. "We're going to a special school for you. You're a very special boy, Thomas, so dad and I thought it would be a good idea to let your talents be shown to the world."_

_Thomas was confused, slightly by the length of the sentences exceeding his attention span, but he didn't argue. His dad wasn't with them in the car though, but he worked a lot so Thomas assumed that's where he'd gone._

_Now he was in a living room, a cream leather sofa against one wall, an oak floorboard, and wooden furniture against another wall which included a bookcase and TV stand, but the TV was just a flat piece of glass. Ah, technology._

_He wasn't stood there to look at the room, he was hidden inside a cupboard, peering out the gap between the two doors. His dad was stood in front of the sofa, facing a man dressed in white. He was breathing heavily, hands in fists, but he wasn't doing anything. "David, the darkness is consuming you." The man in white said, "you're covered in blisters and your wife is not immune! Do you want her to catch it? Or you son? Come with me."_

_"My son is immune." David growled, raising one of his fists but the man in white clicked something that Thomas couldn't see and he lowered his fist. "Janson, promise me something."_

_"And what's that?"_

_"Protect my son, don't let him get in harms way.. he didn't ask for any of this."_

_"I'm afraid that isn't up to me." His dad looked upset and glanced at the cupboard. "Goodbye, David, thank you for all your hard work."_

A loud bang woke Thomas up, screaming for his dad. There was another bang and Thomas' head shot round, seeing other boys had woken up from the noise. A third shot rang out and Thomas sprung out of bed, sprinting out the room.

He had to check. Maybe it was in his head. An experiment. Maybe it was outside! Maybe a goner got in through the hole his mum made in the glass door and WICKED were just taking care of things! It could be anything! Yes!

Thomas skidded to a halt outside the white room, door open, and Newt was stood in it, turning at the sound of Thomas' footsteps. "Tommy, don't come in!" He threw his arms out to try and block him but Thomas just pushed him to the side.

There stood Janson. Gun in hand, mother at his feet, blood pooling around her head and chest. "No..." Thomas whispered, the scene burning into his retinas.

"Tommy-"

"No!" He cried, turning to Janson but Newt grabbed him before he could try anything. "You monster! How dare you! How  _fucking_ dare you! First my dad! Now my mum! You killed her! You killed her!!"

"Tommy, he didn't have a choice!" Newt yelled over his shouting, but he was mostly drowned out. "She was a goner! She switched!"

"She was just fine yesterday! She was in control, she still had her right eye! She was  _fine!"_

"She deteriorated overnight! She tried to kill me!" Thomas was in tears, slowly stopping his struggle but Newt kept hold of him. "She wouldn't calm down, she didn't know what she was doing. Her was shedding like a cat, the skin underneath was pink or bleeding, she was screaming in pain and her eye went too. She collapsed and I thought she died from the pain, or maybe passed out, but a few moments later she got up and tried to attack me."

"But...yesterday... She could have made it..." Newt let go and Thomas fell to his knees. "She could have lived with us. It didn't need to be the end, it's not fair..."

"Just like your father, Thomas, it was the only way. You should have learnt that by now." Janson put his gun back into his pocket and started to leave. "Newt will turn in his own time."

Thomas turned to Newt with desperation in his eyes, but Newt could only apologise. "What do you want to hear? Surprise, I'm not dying? These blisters have spread, I'm yelling at the walls for no reason. Tommy, the pain is getting worse and you know what we discussed. I want to beg you but I'm still tolerating it."

"You won't. You won't get that far. I won't let you!"

Newt's face suddenly darkened and he lunged to punch Thomas but he quickly dodged the attack. "Don't you snap at me! You have no idea what any of this feels like! What your mother felt like, or your dad too! I'm going to die and you're going to have to bloody accept that! You either help me, or I die in agony! It's your choice!" He lunged for him again but Thomas kept backing away.

Thomas tried to make it out the door but Newt slammed it shut and pressed Thomas up against it, one arm to his chest and the other at his throat. He only now noticed Newt's eyes were all black, there was no white left in them. Thomas tried to push Newt off him, but when he attacked he suddenly got so strong and wouldn't budge; when Newt came back to his senses, he quickly dropped his grip and scurried back. "See..? Tommy my hand was at your throat! I don't remember starting, I don't-" Newt whined. "I remember getting angry, but I don't know what I said, if I even said anything. I'm not going to make four days."

"You can damn well try..." He coughed, rubbing his neck. "I'm not going to lose the last person I love, you're all I have." Newt stepped forward again, putting his arms around his waist in a gentle hug. "I just can't allow you to."

Newt smiled sadly at him. "Then that group better hurry up." Newt kissed him, but it didn't feel genuine. "Go back to bed, Tommy.. it's late."

"B-but you're not healthy on your own, and my mother is still lying dead on your floor!" He peeked over Newt's shoulder at her, but Newt quickly moved to block her from view. "Please, I need to be with you. I want you to stay with me. T-tomorrow! You can be with me!"

"Then you better well restrain me. I don't think I need triggers anymore, if someone so much as breathes wrong I'll get agitated."

"Yeah...Okay...Right... It's a plan. I-I love you."

Newt squeezed him, then held his face in his hands. He looked into Thomas' eyes and Thomas copied his actions. "I love you too, Tommy."

He leaned in close and they kissed once more, and the more they lingered the more it felt like a goodbye to Thomas, but he pushed the thought away; even though, he was fully aware that was Newt's intention.

~*~

The following morning, as promised, Thomas brought Newt out and they spent time with the monitors. Newt surprisingly didn't get angry when Thomas revealed Minho was back in the scorch, he'd already guessed it from the start. To his surprise, they were returning earlier than expected, all three boys running back with a jar full of sand in their rucksacks.

Newt was stood nearby, but he was constantly nudging at Thomas' shoulder which made his skin flake so Thomas tried to make him stop, but Newt then just kept chanting his name until he listened. "What!?" Thomas eventually yelled, making a few heads turn and look their way.

"Listen to me when I'm shuck talking to you!" Newt was furious, but his wrists were tied behind his back and his waist to a nearby desk so that he couldn't attack anyone who kept their distance. "We have to go back to the place!  _Now!"_

"Not until you calm down and think it through sober." Newt continued to yell at him anyway, black eyed and blistered, but he could still hold it together.

Eventually Newt stopped, and took in a deep breath. "We need to talk." Thomas' heart sank. "Tommy, please."

Thomas kept his wrists tied, but he freed him from the table and took Newt by the arm, silently walking back to the cupboard, turning the light on, and closing the door behind them. "Minho's going to be back by tomorrow."

"Tommy, I really can't. I'll be gone by tomorrow. Your mum warned me, I know how she felt because I'm feeling it right now. The pain makes me want to scream, by wrists are bleeding because I made the ties rub on my skin and it just flaked away." Newt winced as his tongue brushed a blister on the inside of his cheek. "It's too much, they're in my mouth now. I don't want to wait until tomorrow, I'm not going to be sane. I can't take it anymore!"

"Newt no, I told you I wouldn't."

"You said if I was begging and crying.. Well, I'm begging..." Newt took a shaky breath and scrunched up his face. "And I'm going to start crying real bloody soon, but I'm trying not to so that I can die with some dignity." Newt looked towards where they'd hidden the gun and Thomas followed his gaze, a shaking arm reaching out to grab it and he held it in his trembling hand.

"Newt... Don't make me do this."

"It hurts..." Newt whispered, eyes watery, a sob breaking out. "Please, Tommy, please."

Thomas lifted the gun and aimed it for Newt's head, but then he shut his eyes and turned his head away. He couldn't look.

He pulled the trigger.

Newt's body made a thump when it hit the floor. In a spur of the moment, eyes still closed, Thomas turned the gun round on himself, and pulled the trigger once more.


	22. Chapter 21

Voices... yelling... bright light... screaming? Everything felt so heavy. Thomas' chest felt like someone lit a fire inside him, he could only see his surroundings for a few seconds at most.

The first thing he saw was a singular light bulb inside of a cupboard; then faces, lights rushing by, a bright light, more faces.. It was an endless cycle, his chest stopped feeling heavy and everything went quiet. No voices, no lights in his face, just.. silence.

His eyes opened to a much dimmer light. Something started beeping, breaking his silence; there was also a tube in his arm and a large plaster on his chest, but that seemed to be it. The room was small, with one side being glass with nobody stood behind it, and nor was anybody in the room with him.  _Wait..._ He looked back down at his chest, then felt his heart drop. Right... he tried to kill himself, and he ultimately failed-  _Newt!_

Thomas bolted out of bed, thankful to see he was wearing his own trousers. He ripped out the wire in his hand, causing it to bleed, but he just darted out the room and almost ran smack into a wall.

The sound alerted someone, running towards him before Thomas could get too far. "Newt!" He cried, struggling against their grip. "Where is he!? Where's my Newt!?"

"Now isn't the time for him, get back in bed!" The person shouted at them, sticking something sharp into his arm. "You're tired."

Thomas tore from the person's arms, but he stumbled and quickly slapped a hand at the wall to stay standing. "Newt. I have to find him. I have to see him! Is he alive? Where is he!?"

"Bed."

"Newt..." He fell backwards into the person's arms, exhausted. "Please..." He felt his legs buckle and he closed his eyes.

The next thing he knew, he was waking back up in a bed. A different bed... The dorms?! "Morning, shank." He heard Minho say, malice in his tone. "You're a real slinthead, you are."

"Newt-"

"Is alive." Thomas sighed in relief, hands going over his face. "I got back a day after your stupid act in that little cupboard, and we managed to get Newt the cure in time. As much I hate saying this, because you.." Minho couldn't say it. "It slowed down his brain activity so the darkness didn't take him while we were gone; but that  _doesn't_ give you justice for what you did!"

"Newt asked me to... He asked me a while ago, but I said no; I refused to do it unless he was begging and crying and not being himself. He was-" Thomas stopped. "It was just a spur of the moment, I just didn't feel like I could go on... I'm sorry." He couldn't tell Minho what Newt was like in there; he was their best friend, but Newt's mental state just felt too personal.

"Glad you thought about me. Thanks for almost leaving me behind." It was only fair for Minho to be angry, he almost lost his two closest friends.

"Is Newt awake?" Minho scoffed. "Sorry, sorry.. Are you doing okay?"

"I'm doing just  _fine,_ thanks for asking. Newt's still in the infirmary, you got him at the base of his neck; he only just got his breathing back yesterday, so he's not awake. As much as I want to punch you right in the face, I have to thank you for having such a terrible nerve. If you had even been an inch to the left, he wouldn't be here, and neither would you." Minho paused. "If Newt really did ask you..." He didn't finish his sentence.

"All I remember is holding that gun, and my hands were shaking... Then..." Thomas sat up, swinging his legs off the bed. "I have to see him. See what I did."

Minho was sick of being ignored, so he just gestured for Thomas to leave. The infirmary wasn't far away, and all the rooms had windows so Thomas found him in the third one along. Like his own room, it was empty, but inside there was the beeping of a heart monitor. He wore an oxygen mask, an IV in his left arm, and stitches in his neck; so that's where he hit... "Newt? Are you awake?" He whispered, entering the room fully and sitting beside the bed. "Newt?"

He didn't get an answer so he tried giving Newt a light shake, but still nothing. He looked at the stitches on his neck, half riddled with guilt, half wondering how he could be so off. He'd aimed for the forehead after all, and he got his neck; so close to being vital, it was more collarbone where it was. He hoped despite missing, Newt didn't suffer like Thomas had, he hoped he blacked out quickly.

Thomas felt like apologising, even though Newt wanted this to happen, but he didn't want to hurt him like this. Hell, himself either, this was all a mess. If Newt stayed this way for too long, WICKED would probably let him die and Thomas would be moved on without him. Thomas wouldn't be able to protect him.

Hopefully with WICKED's technology he wouldn't be out much longer, maybe a day or two more. For now, Thomas had to work on getting answers for what was going to happen next; as much as he wanted to stay and hold Newt's hand and tell him things would be okay, the best thing for Newt was to keep him safe as long as he could. He had to protect him...

~*~

Newt woke up the next day, alone, but Thomas never came. He was busy looking around and finding information, so Minho was there instead. When Thomas finally decided to visit, he saw Minho walking towards him.

Minho almost walked past when grabbed Thomas by the arm, stopping him. "We're breaking out. A few of the others stole some cure and now we're going to break out with it."

"Wait, what!?" Thomas dropped to a whisper. "Why?"

"What do you mean why? WICKED sure aren't going to give this to the public, wherever they are. This place is a trap, I don't trust it, the others don't trust it, Newt doesn't trust it! We'll just hide or kill the goners on our way, their brains are fried so there's no getting them back."

"Why are you thinking like this? WICKED have plans for us. Good plans!"

"What plans?"

"I can't tell you, not here, it's too open. I know Newt isn't the only one not immune, but they've all had the cure now, but even so if you leave you're going to die."

"How would you know what it's like out there? You haven't left this place, just like the rest of us. Where have you been the past few days? What are you up to?"

"I've been looking into what's next. I promise it's somewhere safe, with the other immunes, we're going to rebuild this country. I don't know what the rest of the world is like, or where we even are, but where we're going will be safe. Plans changed, and WICKED are being stingy on even telling me what's going on."

"You seriously trust these guys?" Minho's voice returned to its normal volume, but it was already clear that Tomas was agitating him. "You're mad."

"Minho, you should really take the cure."

He sighed, letting go of Thomas' arm. "I'm not getting the shuck darkness, I'm immune like you. I'm just saying, that once Newt's up and around, we're leaving. You coming?"

Thomas paused, looking away. "I'm going to talk some sense into him."

Minho yelled at him as he walked off, but Thomas knew he was right. He had to be right. WICKED was always right. "WICKED is good..."

~*~

"Tommy, I am way too tired to be arguing right now..." Newt had his hands over his face, exasperated and exhausted. "I get where you're coming from but at least Minho has a plan, you're going off on some whim that we can trust WICKED after all they've done to us, all the lies and tricks."

"I promise we're going somewhere safe! I know I told you out in that scorch to be wary of the future but plans change. Others will be there, girls!" Thomas was halfway to pleading, but Newt was having none of it. "I'm not leaving, Newt."

"That's why I can't trust what you say, your plans of the future change like flipping a coin." Thomas held his hand, but Newt looked away to avoid the look in his eyes. "Bloody hell, Tommy, you can't make me choose between you and everyone else, that's not right. I have the choice of never seeing you again, or go against what I think is the right decision and trust your gut?"

"I'm..." Thomas sighed. "I'm not going to hate you if you choose to go, I just think it's a really bad idea. They know Minho has the cure, and they're either going to let him leave or they'll stop you in your tracks if they're given half a chance. They're probably already securing every exit."

"Then we won't give them that chance!"

"Oh forget it. Just get better, and make sure you at least say goodbye. Your mind is set, so I wish you all the best. "Thomas got up to leave, but Newt grabbed onto his wrist.

"You're not bloody going anywhere. Sit down. We're having a serious chat right now and you're not leaving it. Right now, I'm dead exhausted and my throat hurts like hell and you're going to break up with me because I'm trusting my friends over my boyfriend's whim? I don't see how you find that so unbelievable."

They were really doing this, then; they were arguing. Thomas sat back down but Newt didn't let go, making sure he wouldn't leave. "Because I'm the only one with my memories back, I know everything. Okay? Minho doesn't know what WICKED can be like!"

"I highly doubt that. You've never exactly elaborated why you treat these shanks like bloody gods."

"Then I'll start from the beginning."

_Thomas and the others were all gathered in the school hall, having their first assembly. Thomas and James were already friends, though it seemed nobody else had socialised yet so they were doing that now, talking amongst each other._

_The head, they called her Paige, stood at the front and shushed them all. "Okay everyone, welcome to the complex. As your parents have said, you're all very special and have been specifically chosen to be here." The majority of them were around four years old, so she couldn't really say much that wouldn't go over their heads. "Things are going to change when you get older, but for now, I hope you enjoy yourselves."_

"I'm not really sure why I remember that, but I do remember from day one this girl called... Something, started working on the maze with me. We knew from the get go this darkness thing was bad, and what we were doing was going to help. The darkness did breach WICKED's walls, but the changes kicked in when we were twelve."

_Everyone had their new names now, and Thomas was strongly against the idea. The maze was almost complete and work on the scorch had begun, the WKD just out of its design phase from Thomas._

_The girls disappeared a year later, they didn't tell him where, and Alby left not long after her._

"Somehow a goner got into the building and ran around the entire place, infecting everyone since it's airborn. We all quarantined ourselves in a portion of the building to reduce it as much as possible, so trials had to start earlier than we'd planned them to. Of course, you were third up, because you were vulnerable to the darkness, and the rest you know.

"Back at WICKED though, before I came up, I knew all about what was going to come."

_"You know what the maze is made to do, Thomas, only the fittest both physically and mentally will survive. The desert will allow the darkness to develop and the ones who die, must not be saved, only the strongest may survive." Thomas only nodded; he'd forced himself to grow a hard outer shell since he had to send James up into the maze two years ago._

_"And afterwards? What happens then?" He asked, watching the boys on the monitors._

_"That is still in development. The girls and others from sectors B and C will be creating a place for you to go. The immunes are allowed to leave. If the cure is made, then plans may change."_

_"What's going to happen there? What kind of tests will you perform?"_

_"Anyone without memories shall be offered them, and if they refuse, then it will be a painful experience for them. You need not know any more."_

_"Will they die?"_

_"Kill or be killed, Thomas. Extraction is the only way to stop, it will belittle the weak. When the maze has finished, we will be able to tell you more on the matter, plans can change at the flip of a coin."_

_Thomas hummed, watching Ja-Newt, limp around the garden. "Sacrifice few to save the many." It was like a mantra, drilled into Thomas' brain._

_"WICKED is good."_

Thomas looked at Newt expectantly, as if that story explained his reasoning for trusting WICKED. Newt was still sceptical, and angry more than anything else. "So we die if we choose not to get our memories back? What kind of choice is that!?"

"It's weak, Newt, if you can't handle the truth then you don't have the mental strength to live any longer-"

"So I should have died in the maze?" Thomas frowned at him. " _My leg."_

"N-no that's not what I meant... I mean if you can't handle the truth of reality-"

"That's exactly why I did it!"

"But Newt if you keep your memories it'll be like going gone again! The device in your brain will explode if it gets damaged, and WICKED are going to damage it!"

"So escaping is a weak thing to do, huh? Brains turned to mush the moment they see we're gone with none of our memories? It sounds like you're calling me and my dead friends weak,  _Thomas."_

"That's why you should come with me! You'll meet the others, all immune, all safe. The place exists, it has to be around here somewhere, they can't hide something that big! I plan to find it in the next few days, it has to exist."

"I..." Newt finally let go of Thomas' arm, noticing the skin was white from where he gripped him, now leaving a pink print. "I give up. Give me time to think about it, I'm not completely myself yet. I still don't think you're telling me everything, I think you're the one with a messed up brain. WICKED controls you, not us."

"It's because I understand."

"What ever happened to your moral compass? You watched me hurt myself, you watched my friends kill themselves, you let them die."

"To save the many."

"What many!? It doesn't matter if someone is weak or not. They're still people! Show some bloody compassion!"

"Resources are dwindling."

"As they have been since humans started using oil and trees for resources hundreds of years ago. I'm going to pass out, we'll continue this later."

"But-"

" _Later_." Newt rolled over, refusing to say any more.

Thomas sighed and stood up. "I'll explain it to Minho, I bet he'll think differently."

"You do that."


	23. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut time xD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about missing a week! Last week was stupidly busy for me but I'm back on track now <3

Newt wasn't speaking to him. Once he'd gotten out of bed, he spent most of his time with Minho and others, scheming their escape plan. They were slightly worried Thomas would rat them out, but he'd been spending most of the days by himself, busy with his own plans. Now that he was on his own, he couldn't do his usual plan of going on a whim with everyone and hoping for the best, so he decided now he should really try to figure things out on his own.

He waited until night time to explore, not having to worry about climbing over Newt since he'd gone to his own bed instead of sharing, just to try and emphasise how grumpy he was. That was Thomas' theory, anyway. In a little way, Thomas had already convinced himself that nobody from his group was going to go on with him, willingly, so it was rather likely he'd never see Newt again, even after saving his life, there was no way to stop his brain exploding, or dying out in the real world, miles and miles apart.

Only the emergency lights were on at night, the entire room and hallway in a dark red glow. There were probably security cameras smaller than a fingernail scattered around, but Thomas could still explore alone and hide from actual people; he'd met most of the night guards anyway, and they fell asleep pretty often.

It was eerie, like something out of a horror. Thomas felt like he could well be in one, and anything could pop out at any given moment and attack him. For example, as he was creeping out the room to the hallway, somebody whisper-yelled his name. With a jump, he spun round and tried to hit whoever it was, but their hand flew up and caught his wrist. "You're terrible at sneaking, how did you ever survive the maze at night?" It was Minho, glaring at him. "Where do you think you're going, anyway?"

"Does it matter to you? You're all planning to leave so where I'm going doesn't concern you, so let's just say I'm helping my own case."

"Case closed." Minho let go of his wrist. "Newt doesn't hate people, it's not in his nature, and I don't want to hate you, but it really does hurt what you're doing, Thomas. I'm not going to try and change your mind, already tried, and we all know that the three of us are all individually very stubborn."

"Can you promise me something?" Minho raised an eyebrow. "Get your memories back. You're going to get the option at some point, and if you say no then you're going to die. Still around, it's truth or death out there."

"Right.. And I'm the queen of England."

"Minho, I'm serious! If I leave before you, then I at least want to know you're going to live at least for a little while out there."

"It's too late to discuss this, we'll talk in the morning with the others." A pause. "That's assuming you do come back by then." Minho turned and disappeared back into the bedroom, letting Thomas continue on his way.

Knowing that Minho and Newt were disappointed in him really hurt, but deep down he knew that was inevitable. It was only human to want to leave, to feel that way about his different choice, to leave to two completely separate places in the world; they'd probably travel to the nearest city, and Thomas would be reunited with the girl who helped create the maze, and many others he had yet to meet.

Up until about the age of six everyone was at school together, but after that WICKED separated them and things started changing. They were in three compounds; Thomas and the others were in A, the girl was from B, but Thomas had no idea who or what was in compound C. A and B were a gender difference, and as far as Thomas knew there was so definitive third gender out there.

A little into his journey across the facility, Thomas started getting the horrible feeling that he was being followed. He kept turning every now and again to check, but he couldn't see or hear anyone. They hadn't tried to stop him yet, so Thomas was going to stop them first.

It wasn't as if he knew where he was going, nothing was signed, but there was an occasional map on the wall that helped him memorise his route, thankful Minho had taught him techniques in the maze, but this time he couldn't write anything down. Soon enough he'd remember the route back, but he needed to find his destination first; then he'd try to convince the others to stay, he couldn't give up yet.

Walking down a long hallway with no side halls, he planned to catch his follower at the other end when he was suddenly grabbed by two arms that held tightly to his chest... but gently. He froze up as soon as they touched him, a chin now on his shoulder and his back was pressed to someone's chest, hands splaying out on his stomach. "Tommy, come back to bed, don't be sneaking out." It was Newt, the sleepiness clear in his voice. "Minho told me what you said; please don't do it..."

"Newt..." Thomas brought up his hands and held Newt's, thinking about how much he was going to miss the feeling of how perfectly their fingers interlocked like a puzzle when they held hands; how his hands felt so frail but strong enough to punch someone fairly hard. "My mind is already made up, I'm looking for the safe haven and it's got to be connected somewhere. I just need to find it."

"If you do find it? Then what?"

"Wouldn't it convince you to come with me? You can get your memories back, remember our past together, our childhood, all of our friends before... And your names! We can reunite with the others from the other compounds, the girls. Some of the guys would like that, right?"

"Tommy..." Newt's grip considerably tightened, trying to press him closer. "I just want you with me. You saved my life, you were willing to kill me so that I wouldn't have to suffer, and I don't want this whole ordeal to be what breaks us apart. I love you..."

"Newt, don't do this." Thomas turned round in his arms and cupped Newt's face, noticing the blond now looked more upset than tired. "I love you too, and I've been trying not to think about doing this, but-"

"I'm coming with you." Thomas was about to speak again but Newt shushed him. "Tonight, that is. Unless you give me some real solid evidence that this place really exists; blueprints, the building, camera footage- whatever; unless something like that happens or WICKED explicitly tells us that's where we're going, then my mind is set on leaving."

_"You're all going to die if you escape."_

" _Well I rather that than being held under false hope. You're still a greenie, you didn't know those gladers, not like we did. All the gladers that WICKED allowed to die or be killed in cold blood, nobody showing remorse for them and that makes me _sick!_ Apart from Chuck, six months before him is the last living greenie, the rest all died in the maze! Me? I was third, and you may have been my boyfriend for a duration that I don't remember, but what I do know right now, in my mindset, is that the people I lived with for the past two years are a lot easier to trust than you right now. You're just you to me, I don't feel like you do."_

"Are you done?" Newt suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"... And I don't know the way back."

"Then will you at least keep an open mind for me?"

"I'm right here with you, isn't that bloody open enough?"

Thomas didn't bother to reply, he just grabbed Newt's hand and began leading him away; they'd wasted enough time stalling and arguing. If Thomas was to convince Newt and others of this place's existence, he needed to hurry up on finding that evidence.

It was safe to say that romance was dead at this point; Newt had suddenly sprung out of nowhere after not speaking to him for days, followed by a rant, the 'I love you' card was played out of guilt, and now they were awkwardly walking through corridors in silence and the only contact being their joint hands that weren't even tightly gripped together. It was mutual, exhausted from lack of sleep as they wandered through the dimly lit corridors and it was now past midnight. It must have been after two am when Newt finally let go of Thomas' hand and stopped walking. "Okay, I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous."

"What now?"

(If you don't want smut you can skip to next chapter, promise you won't miss anything :D )

Newt looked up and down the corridor, then quickly dragged Thomas into a nearby cupboard and slammed the door shut. He flicked on the light switch, but all it did was cast shadows on their faces. "I'm.. Okay, I know we haven't really had the chance for weeks, but we haven't  _done_ anything. I know you want to get to this place quickly, but.." Newt walked forward until Thomas was pressed against the wall, his hands coming up and fiddling with Thomas' tee. "We've barely kissed, let alone done something like the night before you pushed me in the water trough."

"And you're choosing right now? In a cupboard." Newt shrugged; he knew the timing was quite terrible, but he'd been feeling the 'urge' for a few days and his own stubbornness never gave him openings so he was choosing right now, just wanting to do it.

"There hasn't exactly been many chances, and after this I can't see an opening, but if you don't want to then-" He was shut up by a swift kiss he hadn't expected, almost pushing himself away until he remembered that this is what he wanted. "Is that a maybe?" He asked when Thomas pulled away, looking into his eyes.

"It's an 'I thought you'd never try'." Newt was surprised by the sudden mood change, now seeing the cheeky smirk on Thomas' face and his dilated pupils; even both their breathing was laboured, but they hadn't done anything yet.

Newt closed his eyes when Thomas swooped in again, this time just as gentle, but with so much more passion behind it. It stayed that way for a while, just Newt's hands running up and down Thomas' side under his top, and Thomas' hands holding to Newt's hips. When Thomas flicked his tongue along Newt's bottom lip and he opened up, there was an explosion.

No, literally; the two boys were plunged into darkness and Newt jumped back at the sudden noise, Thomas' hand gripping to his arm so he knew where he was. Newt was just grumpy by the distraction, following Thomas' arm to find his body again. "I'm not letting an exploded bulb ruin this, Tommy."

"There's  _broken glass_."

"Then we'll just have to stand." Newt's hands found their ways to Thomas' face and he kissed him again, a little too forcefully as heard the distinct thwack of Thomas' head hitting the wall behind him, but the low groan that came from his throat had to do with anything but the pain.

Hands were all they had as Thomas grabbed Newt by the hips and spun them round so now his head whacked the wall, but Newt couldn't care less. His hands started roaming under Thomas' tee again, trying to get it off so he could just feel his skin; the slight abs from running, the muscle along his arms- Newt craved anything he could get, and it seemed Thomas felt the same because suddenly their shirts were somewhere on the floor and their bare chests pressed against each other.

Newt moaned, arching his hips to try and get some friction. Peppered kisses were being placed along his neck and Newt realised he was now panting, the fire in his groan making him whimper, needing something to release the pressure. He pulled Thomas' head back up to kiss him again, missing, but it just meant he got to kiss his face instead; their noses bumped, tongues were in the way, and they even accidentally clashed teeth but they calmed down because it hurt; not they cared, everything they did just kept arousing them further.

Fumbling around, Thomas finally managed to undo Newt's trouser buckle and pushed them down with his underwear, the blond hissing at the rush of cold air. Thomas started to kiss his neck again and he gripped Newt in his hand. Loud moans filled the room and Newt found himself unable to function; Thomas' hand stroking felt like absolute  _heaven._ If he wasn't careful, he come there and then before they had the chance to do any real fun. "T-Tommy..." Newt breathed, "y-you gotta.. gotta slow down or I'm-" He whimpered, his breath coming out quicker and quicker, arching his back for more.

Suddenly there was a wet hand searching for his entrance and Newt squealed at the sudden touch, eyes flying open but he was just as blind as when they were closed. How did his hand even get wet? Still being stroked, Newt widened his legs to help the other hand, but he clamped his thighs shut when his first finger went in. "O-oh bloody hell! That feels so strange, but.. don't you have anything to..? Y'know?"

"If I did then I'd be using it. I'm sorry, this is the best I can do." The sound of Thomas' laboured breathing by his ear helped him to relax, opening his legs again. "Just relax."

"R-right.." The second went in and Newt whined, getting a sloppy and blind kiss to try and distract him from the pain.

Thomas let go of his cock to grab both of theirs together, and Newt not realised how Thomas' hand got wet. It made a terrible lube, but it was practically all they had, and he was more than willing to power through it.

It took a few ins and outs of Thomas' fingers to stop Newt from whining and his legs shaking, but he was soon moaning again and begging for more. He needed to release so bad, hands gripping to Thomas' hair like a lifeline as he held himself back. "You ready?" Thomas whispered, just getting a nod in response and a tug at his hair.

Thomas pushed Newt slightly up the wall, lifting one of his legs and using his other hand to try and find where to go; it wasn't hard, but it was pitch black. As he tried to fit in, his foot slipped and it accidentally sent him all the way in. Newt yelled in pain, tears brimming in his eyes from the shock of it.

The sensual kisses were doing little to make him feel better, but the moment suddenly felt more.. loving. His hands loosened their grip in Thomas' hair and the French kisses became less erratic, slowing to a gentler pace. Newt felt so full in all the wrong- yet right, ways. " _Move."_ He ordered, gasping when Thomas pulled out, and slid right back in.

It still hurt so much at first, but the loving atmosphere quickly fell away when the two kept moaning behind each kiss, hands roaming each other's bodies and grabbing anything they could get hold of. Thomas kept pushing Newt higher up the wall until both his legs came off the ground, using the distance to pound much harder into him. Suddenly Newt screamed and Thomas froze, worried he'd hurt him. "D-don't stop! Right here! Do that again, oh bloody hell, do that again.. Please!"

The pleasure was too much, Thomas did as he was told and continued pounding into Newt until his loud moans turned into pleasured whimpers again. His nails dug into Thomas' skin, probably leaving marks, but Thomas loved it. His hand grabbed Newt's cock again, feeling it throb in his hand. "T-Tommy!" Newt whined. "Tommy!" He cried out as he came without warning, ejecting white ropes all over Thomas' chest.

Now he was just oversensitive, but Thomas kept going, hitting his sweet spot until he came inside of him. Newt squirmed at the strange feeling, now feeling more full than ever. "Tommy..."

Thomas pulled out and Newt could finally put his feet back down on the floor. They were both covered in sweat, bodies stuck to each other, hidden in darkness. Newt was grateful they finally got to do this, but he wanted  _more. Now!_ "Tommy-" Thomas kissed him, softly, cutting him off.

"Another time, Newt, I promise. That was..." He chuckled, not really knowing what to say. "You feel so good."

Newt was thankful Thomas couldn't see him blush, but he probably looked like a hot mess. A red light suddenly lit up, the emergency bulb finally flickering on and they looked at each other, not really knowing what to except, but they were both happy with what they saw. They were exhausted, and cold now that they came down from their high. "Would they find us if we..?" Newt asked, noticing Thomas had the same look he did.

"I mean.. no, but there's glass on the floor."

"Then kick it out the way."

Thomas finally detached from Newt, pulling up his trousers so he didn't trip over himself and he tried kicking the glass over to the corner. "There's still small shards and it could we be in our clothes.."

"It's good enough for me. I've had worse." Thomas looked back at him, eyes going straight to the scars the blisters had left on him. "Stop staring, it's uncomfortable."

"Sorry." Thomas hugged him, catching Newt by surprise. "I just want you to know that I think you're beautiful."

"U-uh.. thanks?"

They slowly lowered to the floor, trying to avoid nearby glass. It was uncomfortable, it was cramped, and it was dangerous more than anything else' but they found comfort in each other, together in a tight embrace. Before long, they slept.


	24. Chapter 23

"I found it."

"You what?"

"I bloody found it."

Newt ran down the corridor, towards Thomas who was stood by a large window. All Newt could initially was grey buildings, but then he saw the sign, and.. wow, Thomas was actually right.  _W.I.C.K.E.D Stage 3_ was written in big bold letters on a wall across from them. Sure enough, they chased back to where they used to be and found Stage 2 and 3 which was the maze and the scorch. Did that mean stage 3 was going to be as bad, if not worse than the others? It certainly looked like another death trap to Newt with its enclosed walls.

Thomas caught up to him on their way back and burst out in shocked laughter, clapping Newt on the shoulder and he winced, pressing glass fragments into his shoulder. "Well you said it was freedom, Tommy, does that look like freedom to you?"

"I mean.." Thomas cleared his throat, aware that finding the building hadn't proved as convincing as he'd originally thought. "No, b-but I know it is! I wasn't wrong about this!"

"Well we found it, and I can see the ceiling, so it's certainly not real life in there. I'd rather take my chances with Minho and his batch of cure."

"Oh come on, Newt. I can't go by myself. You said you'd come if we found it!"

"It was more I'd consider it, because I don't trust that one bit. You're just going to have to go alone, unless some of the others have a big change of heart and decide to stay."

"Not after all that we've been through-"

"Tommy, what has gotten into your bloody thick head!? It's common sense to try and escape captivity to certain freedom, and it's also common sense to not consider a big concrete box freedom! You either come with Minho and I, and the others, or you stay in this fantasy world you seemed to have created. Literally." Thomas sighed. "Well, that's certainly a convincing sound."

"Would you give me a damn minute!? It's a paradise where we can't be hurt in there, I swear!"

Newt shook his head. "What about supplies? There's no shuck sun, plants won't exactly grow very well under an artificial one. WICKED has to supply us, just like in the maze, and one day they're going to die off or maybe supplies will run out and then we all starve to death in your so called paradise."

"Well it's not completed yet, they have flaws to fix. It'll be like a city in there, there will be other people, all immune or cured! It'll be a big community and when the world is safe again we'll be free to roam the world."

"So it is one big cage, then? As much as I've made memories in that glade, and there are days I wish I could go back to when things were simple and all we had to worry about was getting out the maze in time.. Fed pretty well, sleep under some fake stars we pretended were real.. I don't want to be trapped anymore, it's going to turn me claustrophobic."

"I get that, but you won't know you're trapped!"

"Well then that stage 3 better be the size of a bloody continent, because sure enough we'll find its borders while exploring whatever's there. Dense forest? Another desert? Ice? Fields? All of the above?"

"I don't know! It's just safer than wandering through a scorched planet, surely? All you're going to have is your wits and whatever you can smuggle. What are you going to do for supplies? The nearest city could be miles and miles away, you can't carry enough to last that long."

Newt huffed. "They're odds I'm willing to take."

"You'll be trapped in the city once you're there, what's the difference. The darkness is probably all in the air, you're not completely immune, Newt, and you never will be until it's eradicated. If you get infected you can't get in."

"Then I'll just take it again."

"The mutations! We don't know if it cures all darkness, it's been manifesting since we were kids. I can't lose you again!"

Newt felt stuck. Thomas was right, but Newt still felt like he was right. What if it really only did work once? It made sense, but the thought of being trapped and monitored every waking moment only made him want to run away. If they were trapped, WICKED could still control them. Thomas' chip was gone, but nobody else's was. "I still think my chances are higher than in there."

"Roaming among the gone? They're practically zombies let's be honest."

"Don't you think I, of all people, know that? I'm  _going_. End of conversation."

Newt took one more glance at the wall outside, then turned and began walking back. Thomas sulked behind him, but neither exchanged a word back to their dorm.

Since they'd only slept a couple hours between the cupboard and roaming around, everyone was still asleep when they got back. Thomas got into his own bed, and smiled when Newt got in after him. "I don't know when you'll leave, or when I'm going to leave, but if this is our last night together then I wanted to spend it as close to you as possible." Newt whispered, welcoming the warmth of Thomas' arms.

"You can still change your mind.."

"And so can you." Thomas huffed. "Goodnight, Tommy."

~*~

Minho was plotting leave in a couple of nights, but after Thomas explaining the memory problem once again with Newt backing him up, he now hesitated; mostly because he trusted Newt more, and Newt seemed fairly convinced they needed their memories to be safe. His instinct still said don't get them, because he didn't want them.

Newt piped that he'd get his memories back, but only if Minho was willing to put off their escape so they could recover; Thomas had looked so broken and lost when he got his back that Newt figured none of them would be able to think straight. A few others had been in agreement, wanting their memories like Thomas this entire time; and as the day went on, eventually everyone was agreed to get them back. Peer pressure, perhaps, but Thomas had told WICKED they all wanted them, and they said they would bring forward the procedures. "You better be bloody right about this, Tommy, and if you're not then we're leaving you behind whether you wanted to come or not." Newt growled, for whatever reason in a bad mood today.

"I get it. Thank you for trusting me this much, though; you even convinced Minho. If you're still set on leaving even with your memories.. then I'm not going to try and stop you."

Newt paused for a few moments, rubbing his hands up and down Thomas' arms. "I do wish there was a topic more cheery to talk about, because this is just bloody depressing."

"Life is depressing." Newt snorted.

"It would be nice to go back to how you describe our childhood, it seemed pretty relaxed despite you secretly preparing a death maze, but y'know. Was I really nicknamed Glue? It's such a stupid name."

"Well you were, and still are, the glue that holds everyone together. Whenever people fought you'd break it up, even with us."

"To think I almost became the glue that dried, huh? You know I don't want to end things, Tommy; maybe long distance would work?"

Thomas laughed. "I'd like to see you try."

He pulled Newt in for a kiss, leant back against the wall in a living room, just the two of them in there. It was just a small moment that made them wish for it to never end, but a voice over the loudspeaker interrupted them and made Newt pull away. Memories time, as promised.

Newt found the other boys already queued up, and they were all looking worried as the first one in was screaming their lungs out. "Tommy, does it really hurt as much as it sounds? You had those tablets-"

"Don't worry, you don't remember this part. Despite being unconscious, your body reacts and like me you might actually yell words. WICKED still haven't figured out why, because you'd be surprised how many sedatives they give you. It's like the changing, it just sucks for everybody else."

"We're all going to be on tablets for throbbing headaches, then. One that almost got you killed out in that desert... My own fault. Got to say I'm not looking forward to this one bit." He saw a few other gladers glance his way and he put on a stronger face.

"You'll be fine."

"Great, we're all bloody inspired."

Newt didn't feel like talking during the rest of his wait, leaning up against the wall and looking like he didn't really care, because it gave the other gladers confidence. A couple people tried chickening out but Thomas acted as a guard to stop anyone escaping and remind them why they were doing it.

Now it was Newt's turn and the screams of the boy before died down, hearing doors open round the corner as they took him to a different room to recover. "I'll see you in a bit, then." Newt finally spoke and unfolded his arms. "It's going to bloody hurt isn't it?"

"Not while you're in there, I promise."

Newt sighed. "See you." He kissed Thomas' cheek and disappeared inside the doors.

~*~

Memories were the talk of the building, apart from groaning in pain at their headaches, all the boys were busy telling each other what they remembered and would get excited when somebody else could remember it too.

Thomas had no idea what they were talking about half the time because for a while it had been like regular school and everyone had their own friendship groups and their own experiences. He could easily say who'd been popular and who hadn't been, and it seemed even in the glade those traits stayed.

Minho came dashing over and punched Thomas in the shoulder in a playful manner. "What's up, duck face?" He asked with a splitting grin.

Thomas groaned and went red in the face. "Of all the things you could have remembered, you bring that up!?"

_Age twelve, they'd just been separated into groups, and some girls they didn't recognise had left some boxes outside by accident. Of course, some of the boys snuck out the window and grabbed them, quickly dragging them back inside._

_One of the boys who'd brought them in hastily got to opening the box, but then he groaned and kicked the box over, a bunch of masks covered in glitter falling out. "Is that all girls ever do? Play dress up? How boring." One commented and collapsed into a sofa, feeling anticlimactic._

_Thomas came forward and grabbed a box, rummaging through it. He pulled one out and quickly shoved it on, climbing onto the nearby table and crying out in an authoritative tone-_

"Bow down my ducklings! For I am your leader! Isn't that what you said?" Minho was laughing now, unable to stop because it was probably the most ridiculous thing he could remember Thomas ever doing.

"Yeah yeah, okay, shut up!" Thomas hissed, whacking at Minho's arm to try and shut him up because people were listening.

"Poor thing, your only moment of popularity!"

Newt came over to try and stop the fuss, making Minho go somewhere else. "Thanks for the save.."

Newt snorted, containing his laughter. "It was pretty funny... And when you forget about it for so long? It's as if you just did it!"

"Fine- fine, it was funny.." Thomas blushed again, even if he did find the memory funny too and had enjoyed his brief moment in the limelight.

"It was the moment I started thinking I wanted to date you."

"So I'm only attractive when I'm acting like a prat?"

"Exactly!" Newt laughed again when Thomas tried to shove him, but stayed where he sat.

"What else you remembered, then? Something to get off this topic."

"Well apart from the image that is my parents being shot right in front of my face, there's school, us, Minho being an ego maniac.." Newt smiled, his mind elsewhere. "That's not why I came over here though, I want to apologise."

"Apologise? For what?"

"Being such a dick when you sent me into the maze."

"You had perfectly good reasons-"

"But I blamed you for it. I thought it was entirely your fault that our friends were disappearing. You wouldn't tell us details or anything, even if you did say a few things to me, but I never believed you when you kept saying you couldn't tell me any more."

"I should have fought back for you and I didn't."

"Well I like to think that because we were all chipped they were controlling you. The real you is who I fell in love with, and then WICKED just took advantage of us all. Probably still are, the bastards." Thomas didn't have the heart to tell him that none of them were chipped before entering the maze, but it helped Newt try to justify him doing what he did.

"Well your strange apology is accepted, if that's what you want to hear."

"It is... But there's something else too, and I don't think you'll be so willing to forgive this one."

"Newt! You told him!?" Minho called, eavesdropping from across the room.

"Tell me what?" Newt's expression was apologetic and he tried to smile, but it just gave it away. "You're still going.. aren't you? After all the memories we have now? Everything I told you in secret to keep you in my loop?"

"Hey, I don't remember you ever mentioning this third place to me before a few nights ago. No hints, nothing more than 'a hot area that will be as ruthless as the maze'. That's all I got."

"I must have told you something..."

"Well do you remember anything? If you're hoping I remember something you don't then sorry you're fresh out of luck."

"Okay.. Maybe I haven't told you anything then. When are you going?"

"Tonight. Minho extended the plan as promised, and according to his plans after tonight we're going to have to wait a while for such an open chance. It's literally now or never, and we pick now. You're still welcome to come with us?" Newt put a hand on his shoulder but Thomas pushed it off. "I'm sorry, Tommy."

"Are you though? I get it, you don't want to say, and you did everything I asked to give it a chance so... just go."

That night, Thomas didn't return to the dorm at night when everyone was packing up to leave, and after delaying by almost ten minutes, Newt was eventually forced to go or get left behind, not even able to say goodbye.


	25. Chapter 24

"You ready yet?" Someone asked Newt, trying to make him hurry up.

"He isn't back yet, I have to say goodbye." Newt demanded, looking up and down the corridor. "I can't leave without saying it first."

"Five more minutes and then we  _really_ have to go. Otherwise we'll leave you behind."

Five minutes more they waited, but Thomas didn't turn up. Minho offered Newt his rucksack, letting him know it was time to go; and he took it. "I'm sorry, Tommy.." He whispered, even though he knew Thomas couldn't hear him, wherever he was.

None of the boys actually knew what was going to be outside the building, only Thomas had been near the entrance when his mum arrived but he never said what was outside. It could be scorch, it could be a dense forest, they could be on an island for all they knew. What they did know, is that there was a plague.. and that was it.

The first warm breeze of outside made Newt glance back inside, just in case Thomas was following them, but all he could see was the glow of the red lights in the hallway. "Come on, Newt, we need to go he isn't coming." Minho had stopped leading at the front, everyone looking at him. "Remember what's important, you can't let your boyfriend cloud your thoughts."

"That's the problem.. with our memories..." Newt bit his lip and forced himself to look away. "Let's go."

Turns out, there was a field on their doorstep; a field empty of any plant or herb, just grass that was patchy in areas. It was either from what caused the scorch, or it was the summer that caused some areas to be dead and brown, with others being overgrown from where a sprinkler may have been. Who watered grass anyway? Not important, but all the boys were distracted by it.

It did mean that it was hard to hide, so if they were discovered missing it wasn't going to be too difficult to find them. It was like peaceful countryside, just fields as far as the eye could see with no towns in sight. Maybe that was on purpose, to catch them, and then Thomas would be waiting for them to tell them he was right all along. He'd love nothing more than to rub it in, feeling so high and mighty about his whole plan.

Newt trailed behind everyone else, wanting to be alone and his limp slowed him down anyways. He still felt guilty for leaving, and he probably would until they ended up wherever they were trying to go. That part of the plan had never really been discussed, they just wanted to reach a town or city and hope they'd be allowed in, and their deadline was whenever their supplies ran out.

Maybe they really were on an island, one completely deserted except for the WICKED complex.. but Thomas' mother made it there; so maybe they were in mainland US, or Britain, Russia? China? They could absolutely anywhere in the world, WICKED were from all over the world and just by looking at the people or listening to their accents really didn't give much away.

They were travelling south and it was mild, they knew that much. Everyone was knackered from lack of sleep when the sun rose, so Minho called for a rest break and some of the boys were quite happy to collapse where they stood into the grass. Again, Newt stayed away from the main group and Minho came over to try and talk to him. "Still thinking about him?" He asked, offering him a water bottle.

"You're not?" Newt took it and had a couple sips, a scowl on his face. "It's only been seven hours since we left."

"Of course I am, I miss the poor shank too, all alone in that stupid complex. If what he said really turned out to be true with the girls and stuff, then I hope he found them. Yeah? No point in winging about it, you know that."

Newt rolled his eyes. "You really have no bloody sentiment, do you? Or pity for that matter."

"He's my best friend! I'm just saying that it's not like you getting all upset, and you don't want the guys worrying. You don't want Thomas worrying, because we both know he probably is."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That you don't need to worry about Thomas because he was so set in his ways. He was okay with you making this decision because it would make you happy. You're not happy, so get happy to make Thomas happy so he knows letting you go wasn't a big mistake. I'm not letting you turn around and walk back, not a chance."

"You don't know how much he begged me to stay, Minho, you weren't there the night we found the new complex. He tried his damn hardest to convince me to stay but I turned him down. I'm glad I took this decision, I am, but.. Come on, give me more than a few hours. I culd classify this as a break up if I don't see him again."

"Fair enough. I'll leave you to it, then." Minho patted his shoulder. "I'll give you some space."

When the sun had risen high enough to wake even the deepest sleeping ex-gladers, they set off walking again through the fields. It was scenic, something none of them had seen for years, and for some they couldn't remember ever living or visiting somewhere like this. To think the world had been captured by a virus, turning people into psychotic zombies. Even birds tweeted around them, it was so tranquil that they forgot how much shit they were in.

In a way, good memories would be made from this walk, travelling through endless fields and looking in awe at the sights around them. In reality, they were on the run and in dire need of somewhere to take refuge fairly soon, but just for a few moments those problems were dwarfed. They weren't problems to be ignored, but everyone deserved a break  _eventually._

Newt wished he could enjoy it with Thomas by his side, holding hands and pointing at the birds that flew overhead, curious to whether they were actual birds or WICKED spies; the feeling of blades of grass caressing against their legs followed by the occasional nip of a thistle or other weeds.

They stopped again not long after midday, the harsh rays making the boys feel like they were melting as there was no wind to cool them down. Lunch was well looked forward to.

~*~

WICKED had disappeared from the horizon now, so they deemed it safe to sleep at night rather than trekking into the early hours anymore, and it helped Newt to worry less about Thomas since he couldn't see where they'd left him.

He couldn't sleep, though, looking up at the stars. He spent most of the following nights doing it, only to pass out from exhaustion and be shaken awake by one of the others a few hours later. He didn't tell anyone, he helped the other boys get to sleep themselves or would talk with them during the day to check they were alright.

They city skyline gave him a spark of hope; gave everyone a spark of hope. "Guys!" Joseph yelled from up ahead, currently leading them. "I think I can see skyscrapers up ahead!"

Everybody ran up to where he stood on top of a hill and sure enough there were a few tops of skyscrapers in the distance, all different shapes but mostly cubed.

Some of the boys cheered and laughed, running down the other side of the hill. The others shook their heads at them, walking to conserve energy because the runners would run out of juice eventually and they'd catch up; but everyone was excited, they had every reason to be. "You were right, Minho, we found a bloody city." Newt said in bewilderment, as if he'd expected to be roaming forever.

"You ever doubted me?" Minho grinned. "It might not be populated, could be one that got abandoned during the break out, Thomas told me that happened when we were younger."

"You always were an optimist."

"Hey! I'm just a realist." The two of them walked together, chatting most of the way there.

Suddenly everyone ducked down when a loud noise pierced their ears from above as something went over their heads. Looking up, it was shrinking in size and was far away to begin with, but the noise was still deafening. Was that wings? It couldn't be a bird, could it? "What the bloody hell was that?" Newt hissed, squinting to try and see it by the sun. "I've never heard anything like it."

"It had wings and a tail." One commented.

"Didn't look like any bird I've ever seen. What kind of animal makes that noise?" Another said.

When nobody spoke and the white 'bird' faded away, they kept on going.

The city was blocked in by seemingly high sky walls, like the maze; people were on the outside scratching at it, fingers bloody, scars all over their bodies. They were obviously goners, but they were distracted either by themselves, the wall, or each other in gory battles.

Newt cringed away at the sight, putting a hand over where Thomas had shot him in a reminder of what Thomas stopped him from becoming. He couldn't thank him enough. He could be with them, clawing desperately at a wall to try and get in but only destroying yourself.

Someone clamped their hands over his eyes and he yelped, his own quickly going up to pry them off. "Relax, it's just me." Minho whispered into his ear, pulling gently so Newt began walking blindly in a different direction lead by Minho's hands. "You were walking towards them and not responding to us."

"I was... thinking." Newt's voice was quiet. "I almost became one of them, if Tommy hadn't done what he did..."

"Don't think about it." Minho let go when they returned to the group. "You might currently be the only sick one out of us, but you've had the cure now. Forget about them, they're.. well, goners. Way past the gone."

"Yeah, I know.." He turned his back to them and tried to merge himself into the group, blocking his view.

The entrance was clear enough, finding a tarmac road poking out from underground and following it to the front door where a speaker and microphone was built into the wall, and a button below it.

Someone stepped forward and pressed it, but nothing happened. "Maybe it's broken?"

"Maybe you speak while pressing it?" He got a few weird looks. "Just a suggestion."

It was all they got, but when someone responded to their hello there was a quick round of apologies to whoever made the suggestion. Everyone started thinking themselves rather dim for not knowing something so simple, but even with the technology they grew up in it was primitive living.

After giving a cryptic story of where they came from and what they were doing at the city, the doors opened and people in suits – like a beekeeper's – were there to greet them. "We're going to check you for the virus." One said, leading them into a small building just inside. "It won't take long, we take a swab of your cheek and put it through a machine."

"Oh- we're immune." Minho piped up, not mentioning Newt or the others at the back.

"If that's true, we must still check so you're not lying."

It couldn't hurt, so everyone agreed to take the test and sure enough they all came up clean.. except for one. It said Newt had it, but everyone assumed it was because he had  _had_ it.

They took another just to make sure, but it came out positive again. "I don't have it." Newt said in defence, trying to explain. "I did once, but I got given a cure. We brought it with us! We can prove it! Show us someone who's going, it will cure them."

"I'm afraid you're going to remain in quarantine, we cannot allow you to enter the city. However, we won't put you outside the city because if this cure you have is the real thing, then we will allow you access to the city. If it isn't, you will be thrown out to avoid any contamination."

"I understand."

Newt said goodbye to his friends, promising to meet them inside after they'd proven the cure. He wasn't particularly worried, because unless their machine only showed completely clean or immunes as negatives, then it meant the cure wasn't as powerful as they'd hoped.

He would become a goner, he'd have the symptoms and the pain all over again, and nobody would be there to help him stop it all before it was too late. He'd experience insanity, and whatever came after it.. A cold blooded killer, the only intention being to attack. A zombie without an appetite. Did they eat people? Surely they had to eat something, they were still physical human beings... Newt didn't want to find out.

When the people came back hours later, Newt was pacing around his room, now slightly paranoid. "Congratulations, your cure is real. However, when their symptoms disappeared and we took the tests they came out negative. You're still positive."

"But that's impossible! I haven't been in contact with it, and I really was cured! I can't be positive, I don't have any of the symptoms."

"Not yet you don't. If you start showing them, you're going right back out there. Until then, this is your room." Newt groaned, reminded of the all white room he'd been stuck in before, but this one was concrete and had a bookcase with actual books on it. "I know it's harsh, but I'm sure you know this world is cruel now. Do you understand?"

"Yes..."  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey new people are starting to hover around this fic, heya! :D Hope you're still enjoying this, but still got quite a few chapters to go yet! ~~I really need to edit these chapters though I'm sorry~~ I'll try to post next friday, life is very busy atm (if you follow me on tumblr you'll have seen my many rambles complaining about it) but hopefully I'll find time!  <3


	26. Chapter 25

After a couple days stuck in the grey room, Newt woke up one morning to a pain in his shoulder. He recognised the pain, and he begged his body to just have a bruise, a painful bruise; but there it was... a blister.

He knew he had to tell one of the boys, so he tried requesting to see Minho. With a blister, Newt had no chance of being allowed into the city, but he tried not to panic. Just a blister. A normal blister. Everyone got them.. but on their shoulder-  _everyone got them._

Minho arrived in the afternoon, and Newt had never been happier to see him. "We have a problem." He whispered, pulling him to the corner of the room that he'd discovered to be a blind spot from the one camera in the room.

"What is it? We're all still waiting for you." Minho whispered back.

Newt pulled down his collar, showing the blister. "This."

"But- you had the cure. You're not angry! O-or black eyed!"

"I know, it's really weird. This is one of the later symptoms but I don't feel angry in the slightest, I'm completely in control of myself; my eyes are fine, I haven't got veins anywhere, all things that start happening  _before_ the blistering. Okay maybe not the eyes but you get my point. I don't have flakey skin either."

"Well maybe it's a regular blister? We were walking under the hot sun for days, we all have them on our hands and feet. Maybe your clothes got sweaty and rubbed against your shoulder the wrong way? It's entirely possible."

"I guess." Newt covered it back up. "But if more start appearing then that means the cure didn't work properly, so either the people they gave it too will turn out like me or I didn't get big enough of a dosage. Maybe it's because I was so far along, maybe it's because I had a hole in my neck, maybe it's because WICKED planned this all along-"

"Newt, Newt, don't panic, you're starting to panic." Minho clamped his hands on Newt's shoulders but quickly let go when he shouted in pain. "Right, sorry. We'll just bring you another needle, simple, and if it makes you clear again then it simply was a dosage problem and you can come into the city! I'll get Joseph to bring one over to you."

"Thanks.. hopefully it will work. If it doesn't, then I'll be asking you a small favour."

~*~

It was so weird, his left eye had become black by evening and people were looking at him from the doorway, wearing their suits again. Minho was the only one who hadn't worn an outfit around him so far, and judging by the hushed whispers Newt could hear he had a feeling crazy people were going to be the next ones out of suits he'd be meeting.

He still didn't feel angry at all, just 'slightly' panicked at the idea of getting thrown out the city before he was given half a chance to enter it. All the hard work and sacrifice to get here would just be thrown back in his face before he was able to grasp it. Newt did find that a little infuriating, but his anger changed into worry about  _becoming_ angry, so he tried not to let anything bother him.

Someone beckoned him over and they clamed something around his wrist, quickly making Newt recoil backward. "If your darkness goes away, then you can come in. This bracelet will tell us how you're doing." They said, voice muffled by their helmet. "I'm afraid it's time for you to go."

"I only just got here!" Newt defended.

"The darkness is clear in you, your left eye is black." They held up a mirror for him to look in, but Newt was already well aware because he could  _feel_ it. "You can't hide it anymore from us."

Newt's hand went up to cover his eye. "W-well where am I meant to go? It's just endless fields out there and goners are clawing at your walls! They'll kill me!"

"That's your problem, not ours; you'll join them clawing at the wall soon enough. Now come with us before we force you out."

Newt sighed, lowering his hand. "Okay, fine. If this ends up going away then you owe me an apology." Joseph's second needle hadn't worked, so all the suited people rolled their eyes.

Rather than letting Newt have a moment to himself at the edge of the city, they roughly shoved him outside so that he fell over and they swiftly shut the door behind him, followed by the much larger gates closing beyond that.

Now he really was stranded, and none of his friends knew. As far as any of them were aware, he was stuck in the concrete room, doing his own thing; but now he was outside with a bracelet like some rehabilitated animal; left for dead, quite literally; left to go crazy and attack innocent people.

Maybe if he'd just stayed with Thomas they would have found out he wasn't clean and treat him again; if they couldn't, he could disappear with Thomas in his last days for however long he had before insanity and they'd return to the cupboard once more. Clearly it was a mental thing that killed them, mostly, but that wasn't happening with Newt, but he was slipping physically and fast.

Just like last time, he'd probably go insane from the symptoms, crazy from the pain, the agony. Feeling your eyes go black was like something pressing against the back of your eyeballs, pinching the nerves. He knew what was to come, and he knew he'd find it worse and wose as he decreases further from sanity with nobody to comfort him this time. His rambling mind was enough to make him think he'd lost it already, but a lack of motivation to scream and pound at the wall with the rest of them reassured him.

Newt wandered slightly away from the city towards a patch of grass and he lay down in it, staring up at the sky. He didn't even have resources to keep him alive now, so the people inside didn't expect him to make it through the next few days. Trying to trek back to WICKED wasn't a possibility, it was too far. Although, with the feeling of his right eye slowly turning black, Newt started to believe he didn't have a choice.

~*~

Meanwhile, Minho and others were distributing the cure to hospitals across the city. They'd all gone separate directions, and currently Minho was struggling to convince some doctors that it worked. "This is kind of your only shot, it's either you trust me on this or that weird stuff you apparebtly use to prolong people losing their damn minds." Minho hissed, trying not to lose his temper.

"Where's your evidence?"

" _I_ had it." Complete lie. "Would I be able to get in here if I had it?"

"You don't have scars or anything, and you're selling it, why would I believe a pitcher?"

"Some people at the entrance gave it to someone and they're clean! They gave it to my friend, he got an improper dosage, but he was clean."

"Then i'll ask them myself."

They left the room and Minho let out a huff of exasperation. They'd been bickering back and forth for about half an hour and he was ready to just leave them be and let their section of the city die of the darkness; or at least this particular doctor for getting on his nerves.

When they came back, they looked much more optimistic. "Okay, I believe you, but your so called 'cured' friend has just been deported out of the city; so if this cure wears off then we'll be coming for you." Minho supposed he should feel threatened, but he was now concerned of Newt's whereabouts.

"Deal- now what do you mean my friend was deported? Why?"

"Why do you think? He's infected. We can't have it spreading in our city, you're lucky you didn't keep it around like he did." The doctor took his box of cure and left the room.

"Oh if only you knew.." Minho muttered under his breath, having to be pulled away before he tried any more sarcastic remarks.

With no money, the boys were living off their leftover supplies and down a random alley at the moment. With the ones not giving out cures our researching city life instead, they'd discovered people had jobs, somehow, and that was how they got money. What kind of life had raised them in? They must have planned for none of them to ever return to the real world. Right now, their focus was on getting a plan together.

Minho had news for them when he got back, sitting in a circle and using a streetlamp at the end of the alley to illuminate them. "So I have some bad news, things are going from bad to worse." He said, catching their attentions.

He'd always enjoyed being leader, but without Newt as his wingman it felt different, and Alex wasn't a sufficient substitute. "We'll we've managed to give out almost all of our cures so what's the problem?" Someone asked, crunching on an apple they'd taken from a hospital reception room.

"So one of the doctors today wanted cold hard proof that it worked, so they asked the people at the door- and he took it, that part is fine, but he said Newt's been kicked out. I went to find out if that was true, and it is; he's out there with some weird bracelet." Minho pulled what looked like a sheet of metal out of his pocket, a blue glowing light in its centre. "Blue means symptoms, orange means going, red means gone, off is dead, and green is clean."

"We can't get out to him? There's no point in us being here without him."

"We probably could go out, but few people know we're immune, and if we spend our time out the city surrounded by goners and our going friend, and we keep coming back clean, suspicion is going to rise and people will get curious. You know how Thomas warned us about people and immunes."

"But he's out there!"

"I know! Newt is my best friend and close to all of us, but there's nothing we can do unless we don't want to be safe around the city, and who knows where the next one is. We just have to pretend he never travelled with us and we continue our plan as normal."

They all knew he was right, and nobody wanted to admit it. Newt wouldn't want them worrying about him, and if he really was going to become a goner then they'd have to eventually get used to being without him.

Newt was currently trying to outrun the goners, whom had found him while wandering around. They all screamed jibberish at him; eyes black, skin blistered, every inch of skin covered in blue and black veins. How aware were these people? Were they brain dead but still able to physically function? Would Newt be aware he was attacking people, and perhaps even killing them, but be unable to stop himself?

Already his arms were now beginning to flake when he scratched an itch or rubbed too hard, but he still only had the one blister on his shoulder. He felt he looked demonic with his black eyes, as if they were both just one massive pupil. They ached like hell. He was surprised both he and the goners hadn't tried ripping their eyes out, but he felt like he surely would if he got that far.

Newt tripped on himself and fell to the ground, quickly scrambling to get back up but an angry, bloody hand grabbed the back of his shirt and tried pulling him backwards, other hands quickly joining and pulling him into the mass.

They tried scratching, punching, some even trying to bite, but Newt was fighting back as hard as he could. If he didn't try any harder then he was definitely going to die...

Something clicked.

Newt let out a loud, angry cry and wriggled himself around, fighting back in full force.

~*~

Elsewhere, someone was walking to the city; they could hear the goners yelling and screeching in the far distance. One cry cut through all of them, an angry cry, and the other cries began to diminish. "Be safe..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was a little late! But here's new chapter hopefully next one out friday <3  
> Also yay! We reached 1000 hits!!! Thank you <333333


	27. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yEET sorry I've been gone so long I had so much uni work to do ;n; I'm back now, every friday should be happening <3 (I know it's Monday but shshshshhhhhh)

After talking to every building he could find, Minho had somehow hooked himself a job waiting tables. It got them money, and they really needed to eat now. Some others got into 'fast food' which was Minho's job without the tables, one got into a bank, a couple in some offices, and the rest were still looking.

It was surprisingly how easily the jobs were going, and they would be rich soon enough since they only planned on getting a place with one bedroom and then buying excessive mattresses or sofas since they were used to things like that from the glade.

He walked back late one day from work, still wondering how Newt was handling himself or if he'd gone. He hadn't looked at the light for a couple of days, last time he did it had been flickering between red and orange so he put it away and hadn't got it out since. Was he gone yet? Minho felt like he was already assuming him dead, even though if he was gone he wouldn't be dead. Would he? Maybe he let them tear him apart, end himself before he could be belittled to that state.

In a bittersweet way, Minho almost hoped he did, because death was a more dignified fate than those... things. Plus, he proved he much preferred death barely a month ago with Thomas. Both ways were horrible ways to go, but at least it meant he'd gone.

Most of the others were there, eating dinner in a circle with an extra person than there should've been. "Hey, Minho! Look who decided to come join us." Alex called, leaning forward to grab him some dinner.

Minho looked up and was so surprised that he stopped walking, the person giving him a grin in response to it. "Thomas."

_Earlier_

_Black and blue, Thomas had trekked his way towards the city that he knew the others had headed to._

_Choosing to stay, Thomas was surprised by how few people were collected together, but he was told some had been taken by the darkness. One girl in particular had been pleased to see him, being his only defence to all the others girls who tried to attack him when they first met because none of them had seen a boy (that wasn't a WICKED employee) to their memory._

_Until the age of twelve, all the boys and these girls had lived together quite happily. The one who remembered, Teresa, was probably the only girl's name any of the boys would probably recognise, and Thomas for these girls if they could remember. Once divided, they were the only two who could switch between groups, but it didn't mean he got to know any of them; he simply recognised them from classes, or like with the duck mask, out in the playground._

_They and Thomas were planning to go to the new section any day now, even while his heart was weighed down with guilt and regret. To try and cheer him up, Teresa convinced him to sneak around with her like they had done as kids, trying to find out more of where they were going._

The labs was their first target, seeing a few people inside messing with equipment while dressed up in strange suits. One took off their helmet and shook their head to fix their hair. "We should get this to one of the subjects downstairs." They said, taking off their gloves next.

"I'm pretty sure it's fine, better than the last one which just wears off."

"Maybe we should call it Light 2.0" They both laughed. "Creative, right? Or maybe illuminati!" They laughed again and disappeared into a back room, leaving the 'illuminati' on the table.

Teresa began to back away before they were discovered, but Thomas was staying put. "What are you doing?" She hissed at him. "We've got to go!"

"Wear off..? What do they mean it wears off!?"

"Ssh! Keep your voice down you idiot!" She grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him away from the lab. "What are you talking about? It doesn't matter to us."

"My.. I.. I have to get that cure. I've got to get out of here,  _now."_

"Tom, what are you on about? Where do you need to go? We're off to paradise any time now, where could you possibly want to go instead?"

"I have to leave. I've got to get it to someone!"

"What? Who?"

"Newt! He's sick, he's not immune like us. I gave him the cure a while ago and he left with everyone else for the city but if it just wears off there's no way he got into the city... I just hope I'm not too late."

Thomas pushed Teresa away from him and ran into the lab to grab the second cure and then ran back out without another word.

He'd grabbed what he could and ended up fighting his way out. WICKED was controlling the girls who now attacked him a second time to try and take back the cure, but Thomas somehow made his way out with only cuts and bruises; but his mind was made up.

Half the time he spent thinking about what an idiot he was, not going with the rest of the group because they'd been right all along. WICKED weren't to have been trusted from day one. He might have taken the only new cure, but Thomas was certain they could make a new batch within the week.

On his third night of walking was when he heard Newt's cry, the city skyline in front of him, and he wondered if reaching there at night time was the safest idea. His vision was massively impaired with the moon behind the clouds and Newt was clearly surrounded by goners, perhaps going or gone himself. He'd hoped the former.

At that same time, Minho had been in their alleyway looking at the sheet of metal he'd been given, looking at the glowing orange light. He felt so tempted to just break it, or throw it away; he didn't want to know when his best friend was dead. Not even dead, a goner, a thing worse than death.

By morning it was flickering between red and orange, seemingly unable to decide which one to stay put on. It was real, Newt was definitely going and it broke Minho's heart. He'd hidden it in his bag, not wanting to look anymore.

Outside, Thomas had begun walking again at dawn, making sure he was woken up by first light. Goners wandered around aimlessly; they scratched at the walls, screamed at birds flying by, others at the wind, and some were just stood in silence.

He'd seen Newt immediately, stumbling around quietly on his own. He didn't look as angry as the rest of them, but it was hard to tell with his eyes all black and some veins creeping up his left cheek and down his arms.

Just in case, Thomas tiptoed his was towards him. Newt stopped, head snapping towards him when Thomas kicked a stone by accident, but he didn't attack. His fists were tightly clenched, but they slowly let go and blood beaded in his palms where his nails had dug into his skin, but he didn't seem the slightest bit phased by it. "Tommy?" He'd questioned, disbelief in his voice. "Are you really there?"

"Yeah.. It's me. I'm so glad to hear your voice, I was so worried you'd-" Thomas cut himself off with a cough. "I've got a second cure, as soon as I found out they were making it and said the first wore off I came as soon as I could-"

"Tommy you're hurt." Newt cut in, reaching forward and putting a hand on his arm where there were a couple bruises. " _Shame."_

Newt suddenly dug in his nails and dragged them down Thomas' arm, making the brunette cry out and taking a few steps away. Thomas clutched to his arm while Newt stared at it, seeing very thin cuts but not deep enough to bleed. "Newt, while you're still sane you have to let me inject this."

Thomas got the needle out of his bag and took a couple wary steps back towards Newt. "You think I'm insane? You think I'm losing my mind!? Is that what you're saying!?" Newt lunged for another attack, yelling at him but it didn't sound like words anymore.

He was just chasing Thomas round in circles, making Thomas worry he was too far to save but Newt came to a sudden halt. "Tommy just do it! Please, I'm going! I was attacked the other night and it just clicked and I attacked back and-" A pause. "Attack!"

Another lunge, but Thomas had the needle ready this time. Newt grabbed his shoulders and dug his nails in, trying to tear at the fabric. He didn't even notice Thomas stabbing the needle into his arm, he barely even flinched, he just kept on screaming.

Newt roughly pushed him away. His breathing was laboured, his body was practically bleeding all over from self-inflicted injuries, scratches around his eyes, as if he'd been clawing at them. He reeled back his arm to punch Thomas, but he quickly dodged the attack and started running again.

They began running again and Thomas leapt over a muddy patch, while Newt slipped and fell in it. Before he could get back up, Thomas pounced and pressed a knee to Newt's chest, pinning his wrists to the ground beside his head. His only ways of attack was to try and kick him and to scream until his lungs hurt, and then scream some more in an attempt to make him go away. "Snap out it!" Thomas yelled, his hope beginning to diminish.

Newt might've snapped for the final time, he might not come back from this one. His screams stopped, leaving a ringing sensation in Thomas' ears that made his eyes water, but his face had dropped any expression, either exhausted or coming to a realisation of what was going on.

Thomas tried asking, but the next thing he did was close his eyes, and body fall limp. Thomas sighed. The cure worked.. but the ruckus attracted the other goners, now coming towards their general area. The tall grass acted as a camouflage, so long as he stayed low.

He collapsed down beside Newt to stay down, carefully pulling out the needle and throwing it across the field to try and distract some of the goners. He kept an arm around Newt's waist in case he woke up to soon, and to give himself a slight bit of reassurance. As long as that wasn't the moment Newt finally went and the cure just made him pass out, then it hadn't been too late; but if Newt did become a goner in that moment, then there was no way of getting him back now.

After waiting for the goners to get bored or distracted, Thomas poked his head up and saw them all back nearer the wall where they started. Nobody had ever studied them, and it seemed nobody who worked in WICKED was immune, or at least showed themselves to be immune, so anybody who cared about research probably couldn't without ending up researching themselves. Where were all the immunes, anyway? The boys and some of the girls surely couldn't be the only ones, otherwise WICKED wouldn't let them be killed so recklessly. Perhaps Minho and the others found more in the city, or maybe they were keeping it a secret.

Considering himself safe, Thomas resorted back to his original plan; he picked Newt up and carried him tightly to his chest, making a run for the door. "They tested him and it came out clean." He now said, explaining what happened to Minho. "Took off some random bracelet that he had and we were allowed inside because obviously I was clean too."

"Where is he now? Where'd you put him?" Minho demanded, desperate to see his friend.

"Over there." Thomas indicated with a nod of his head. "He's sleeping, but don't wake him up, the darkness is still making its way out of his body.. Sheesh, sounds like he got possessed by a demon or something. The  _darkness."_ Thomas shivered, images of Newt screaming in his face popping to mind.

"The new cure? The illuminati or something? What does that even mean?" Thomas shrugged. "Well I'm going to sit with him for a while."

Minho stood up and took his dinner with him, sitting down beside where Newt was lying. They'd made someone's jacket into a pillow for him and somebody else must have given up their blanket to keep him warm. Only his face was exposed, but Minho could see the cuts from where he'd been attacked or hurt himself. The veins were fading though, but they were still there, all over his face...

He dragged his rucksack over and took the piece of metal out of his pocket; he didn't wear the bracelet anymore but he smiled, the light glowing green.


	28. Chapter 27

"Cramped."

"Well you can free up some space by having that alley all to yourself. We'll be thankful for it!"

Minho dropped the keys on the counter to make a point, making the other boy grumble. "Just saying."

"Well maybe if you got a job like the rest of us-"

"Quit it!" Newt yelled from the doorway, making Thomas -who was carrying him- wince away. "Can we just be thankful for everyone's hard work that went into this? If you're not grateful then you can leave."

That shut them up.

It had been a few days since Newt and Thomas entered the city, which even before then only amounted to just over a week, but collectively the boys had enough to buy a very run down, small, apartment. It only had one bedroom, one bathroom, but every floor except the bathroom was carpeted; hard floors weren't exactly a new way of living for the ex-gladers.

Thomas carried Newt because apparently coming back from being a goner was extremely energy draining; to the point that Newt was unable to walk and spent most of his days sleeping. When he was awake, he mostly talked to Thomas in private at a distance from the others, occasionally talking to the boys who approached him, but as he was now back in authority like Minho they tended not to go to him unless they wanted to ask something. Minho just kind of assumed he was his wingman again, so Newt had this authority whether he wanted it or not.

He didn't mind it, nor did he mind being carried; he leant his cheek on Thomas' shoulder as they explored the apartment together. It seemed nice for what it was, and they could hear the others arguing in the main room from the bedroom. "I bet it's about sleeping arrangements." Newt commented, stretching out on the bed quite lazily.

"Do you want to break it up?" Thomas asked, checking the view out the window; it was just the main road.

"Only if their verdict puts us apart, but I'm far too comfy right now."

Thomas laughed. "Fair enough."

Minho stormed in later on, looking quite miffed. He collapsed himself into the arm chair that was in a corner of the room and crossed his arms, mumbling something about not getting his way. Newt had fallen asleep, so Thomas had to deal with him. "What happened?" He asked, voice hushed so as not to wake Newt.

"I got the damn  _floor_. You lucky lovebirds get the actual bed." It sounded great, and it kinda was, but they were sharing a single. "Mostly because Newt isn't well and none of the other gladers wanted to share with him, or someone else." Minho's voice got grumpier and grumpier, looking down at the floor with distaste.

"Do you want the bed? I really don't mind where I sleep."

"Thanks, but I don't want you getting mad when I get curled up next to your boyfriend." Thomas rolled his eyes. "You know I'm grabby!"

Thomas had discovered one night in the glade while sleeping near Minho, that he got grabby. They slept fairly far apart, but he woke up with a hand on his face and their legs practically entwined like a vine. Thomas had tried to escape without waking him up to avoid embarrassment, but Minho only gripped tighter to him when he moved and ended up stuck. "It's Newt you'd have to worry about, he can have a mighty temper if he wants one."

"You mean from the virus?"

"Oh no, pre-glade. He could get bossy. I was the slob, he was the cleaner."

_Thomas and Newt were fourteen, only a couple weeks before Newt was due in the glade. They were roommates, and Newt was reading on his bed._

_Thomas came in and dropped a wrapper onto his desk, having one each on their own side of the room. "Could you not?" Newt asked, lowering the book._

_"Not what?" Thomas asked, lying down on his bed and picking up a tablet to look at a document WICKED had sent him._

_"Litter up the place because you never clean it up."_

_"It's on my side of the room, you don't have to worry about it."_

_"No, but it's annoying because you keep on doing it. Couldn't you at least compromise to tidy up a bit because you know I like things being clean?"_

_"It's one wrapper!"_

_"I'm just saying because you keep doing it!"_

_"Okay okay! Look, I'm putting it in the bin! See?" Thomas got up and shoved it in, but Newt still wasn't happy. "What more do you want!?"_

_"To just stop letting things get into a mess again! The wrappers end up on the floor so I'm stepping on them so I end up cleaning them up! You never even thank me!"_

_"Why are you so angry about this?"_

_"I'm not angry!"_

_"You're yelling at me!"_

_"Oh screw it." Newt threw his book down and stormed out the room, making sure to slam the door._

"What, over one wrapper?" Thomas nodded. "Hm. Well, I can't say I've seen him angry very often but I certainly remember him snapping a couple of times, but he's always been the calm one."

"Don't get me wrong he's 99% chill; but to be fair, he was slightly aware he was going into the maze at that point and since I sent you and Alby up, he was constantly angry at me."

"I don't blame him in that case. Either way, I don't have that many memories of him before the maze since you two spent so much time together as a couple rather than with our group."

Newt rolled over, making them both clam up until they realised he was still asleep. Minho checked his watch and claimed he had to go to work, so he left the room promising to be back later.

Thomas decided to join the group, finding out who slept where. With only ten of them left, Thomas and Newt got the single bed; Alex and Michael got a sofa each, George got a chair, and the other five including Minho got different patches of floor. For now they only had their blankets and a couple pillows, so any extra cushions or even a pillow from the bed would be donated to the floor sleepers without one.

It wasn't too bad, the carpet was pretty soft since it was such cheap material, and while it was better than the street, it was still the floor; the whole point of the apartment was so they wouldn't have to do it anymore, but they all knew they didn't have the spare money for mattresses, this apartment was a massive splurge that would leave them hungry for a couple days.

They told themselves it was still early days, and it was, but Thomas felt absolutely clueless about the future now. He was usually like this anyway, but now more than ever since he spent most of his dedicated planning time panicking. He felt like there was some imminent deadline, but there wasn't one unless you included teenagers winging about getting a job to pay your own weight.

Maybe he should get a proper job instead of part time, maybe he should go to school, but there were so many levels of school he didn't know what he would fit into. The higher up the better job you'd get, he presumed, but Thomas had no idea if schools were still running; but it people still went to work, the children had to go somewhere.

Could he even afford school? Did he have to pay for it? According to the coins they had in change they had to be in England since everything was British Sterling; not that it gave any hints to how much schools were. Anyway, where was WICKED? England didn't have deserts, was it man made? Did whatever happen really create deserts?

Thomas vaguely remembered his parents having an accent, American apparently, but he couldn't remember when he switched countries or if he ever did. Where did they all grow up? Nobody could remember, the memories were too far back. Maybe that was WICKED's plan all along, get them while they're young. In fact, the only person whose accent actually matched their surroundings, was Newt.

Speak of the devil, he was whining Thomas' name from back in the bedroom, so Thomas returned to see what he wanted.

~*~

"Hey Minho, you got any idea where in the country we are?" Thomas asked in the evening, watching him try to figure out the electric oven.

"No clue. I know the city is called Oxford, and I found a fairly dried up river nearby.. couldn't place it on a map though. Heck, I don't know the capital of this place! WICKED taught us jack shit."

"I might ask someone. Location aside I don't know if I should study or go straight into a job, I have no idea what my intelligence level is compared to everybody else our age. I think degrees are really high up the chain and are good for jobs, but you know maybe there's stuff you have to do first."

"Yeah there's qualifications you need. I got turned down loads because I didn't have them, so people suggested part time since I'm a student, apparently, so I assume people our age go to school and earn these things."

"D'you think saying I worked for WICKED would do anything? That could make or break me. I mean- I made a maze! I basically designed and programmed the whole thing, I made WICKED who they are."

"Go ahead and try, but if nothing comes of it then I could probably persuade my boss to give you a job working tills. Not exactly difficult work."

"Thanks, Minho."

~*~

Thomas came back jobless a couple days later, but he had four scheduled interviews and a black eye. Everyone was pretty jealous, but as predicted the working for WICKED card was the equivalent of a fast pass at Disney world; but also a trap as one employer did punch him in an attempt to knock him out, but Thomas just ran off. Guess people were willing to send him back to WICKED... didn't even know WICKED were looking for them.

Everyone was crowded in the kitchen when he got back, Newt sitting in a chair someone had dragged over from the small dining table so that he could lean on the kitchen counter with the others. Even though he was talking to someone, Thomas came over and started absentmindedly stroked Newt's hair, like a second nature.

It was calming, and Newt was just leaning his chin in his hands while watching Michael attempt to cook. Frypan would've been amazing to have around right now, but he went missing out in the desert and not even WICKED could find him. He was obviously more than a cook, but right now that was all anyone's stomach was thinking.

Plus, it wasn't like the cooking was difficult, it was just pizza; you shove them all in the oven and switch on a timer, yet Michael struggled because of all the different cooking times and there was too many to fit in at once. "You could just ration them all." Newt piped, catching his attention. "Like Frypan always did, just cut up the ones that are ready and then put in the rest."

"Good idea, thanks." Newt shrugged and Michael rummaged around in a cutlery drawer for a knife, finding a circular one. "What on earth would you use this for? It's round!"

He spun it once, then put it back and got out a proper knife. Tenths wasn't the easiest fraction to divide by, but with two pizzas done he did fifths instead and let the boys fight over what they wanted.

While most of them disappeared to eat their one slice, Newt stayed at the counter with Michael, but Newt's slice sat on the plate that it had been served. "Aren't you hungry?" Michael asked, currently shoving his down as he had a break during cooking.

"No.. I'm still just sleeping all day so I don't really get much of an appetite. Feel pretty useless without any energy, since you're all out settling into new life but I can't stand for very long. I am awake longer but y'know, it's different from the glade when I'd be on my feet all day."

"Eh, give it time, you did come back from almost being a goner. Minho had a little light thing that showed your progress, and the last time he looked at it you were flickering between going and gone, so no wonder your energy is gone too.

"I guess." Newt took a bite, surprised at just how tasty it was. "You get my point though."

"I do, and I'd give you pity if I didn't know you hate being felt sorry for. You could clean the counters when we're done?"

"Okay.. Even if it is a chore, someone's gotta do it and I'd be a bloody hypocrite if I said no."

Michael laughed and got out the next round. "More pizza!"

~*~

Thomas jolted awake from a nightmare, head lifting off the pillow and his arms tightening around Newt's waist. "You okay?" He heard Newt whisper, a gentle hand going over his.

"Yeah.. just a.. just a nightmare." Thomas put his head back down, breathing deeply to calm himself down. "Did I wake you?"

"No, I haven't slept."

Thomas lifted his head again to look at the bedside clock, seeing it was a little before 2am. "You're only awake late when something's on your mind, so what's wrong?" Thomas put one hand under his top and started gently stroking over his stomach.

Newt rolled over so they were facing each other. "I'm just thinking."

"I know that much, what about?" Thomas pushed back the hair from his forehead, letting him see his eyes better.

"This new life we're supposed to lead. Are the ten of us going to stay together as a group because it's what we know and we'll always have each other, or are they all going to find partners? We've got each other, but they might want to move out. We might want to move out! Am I going to get a job anytime soon? Will your interviews end with anything? If so, will you move out to live closer? Can we move cities? Are there others? Will we move? Do we stay here forever? Are we allowed to leave?"

Thomas sighed. "That conversation is way too deep for this time of night. We can talk about it in the morning."

"I don't want to wait, Tommy, I'm worried about our future. This place is so new and different and we don't have any guidance whatsoever, even WICKED helped us a little bit when we got out to re-climatize to semi-normal life. I wouldn't mind finding out about my parents, I know they're dead, I remember it, but.. I could find a grave or something, right?"

"I have no way of answering that question." Newt felt slightly offended by his tone. "You might not have been born here, I don't know where WICKED would have put your parents."

"My sister too.." Newt gripped to Thomas. "Do you know if she's okay? You knew about my parents, what about her? I don't remember much but-"

"I don't know where she is." Thomas knew exactly where she was, she was one of the girls Thomas had almost lived with; she went by the name of Sonja, but nobody knew her real name. "A-actually..."

"What?"

"She uh.. I met her. She's one of the girls from the other group. She's immune." Newt choked, trying to say Thomas' name but nothing came out. "I don't know her real name, but they changed it to Sonja."

"No.. No- no!" Thomas shushed him but Newt just smacked him in the chest, winding him. "No Tommy! How could you keep that from me!? How could you!?"

"Newt- Newt sssh! Sssh!" They had another boy sleeping on the floor, but it looked like he was politely pretending to still be sleeping. "We should talk about this later, you'll wake someone up."

"She was right there.. she was right there the whole time.." Newt started to cry now. "She's still there, she's all I have left of my family and she's been with WICKED this whole time, being controlled.. You couldn't bring her? How did you even know it was her? How do you know what she looks like?"

Thomas smiled a little bit. "She looks just like you. Same features, same eyes, just more feminine. Listen, WICKED planned to let us all out eventually, maybe she'll come here."

Newt was quiet. "I hate this.. I hate everything about this." Thomas tried to stroke his back, but Newt shook him off. "I feel like I did back in the maze.. Alby got so mad at me, and Minho wouldn't run for days, and everyone else kept on coming to me and I hated it. I just want-" Newt got cut off by Thomas kissing him, though because of the lighting he missed slightly to the left.

"Listen, Newt.. the maze is all over now, and I know knowing your sister is back at WICKED must feel horrible but don't let yourself get worked up." Now he felt even more offended. "I didn't want to tell you about your sister, but then I felt bad for keeping it from you. Just keep doing what you always do, and that's pressing on. You've always taken things as they come, and you've made it this far through spontaneity and you've had the darkness twice!"

"What's your point?"

"My point is that you don't have to be worrying so much about the future. The past will always be there, all ten of us are always going to be haunted by it, but if we stick together and look out for each other things will work themselves out. As for Sonja.. well, maybe you can go back for her one day? I can tell you she's doing just fine, she's pretty happy considering the maze. There was two, she's been through it too but they never met the Mourner, and she has loads of friends. She's just like you, making friends with everyone."

Newt took Thomas' comfort now, shuffling closer and holding onto his top. "I bet she'd make a plan for the future."

"But if those plans get foiled? You planned to get to the city with the others nice and easy, but nobody thought about your cure wearing off. There's so many factors to consider, and if one gets resolved then more will turn up. Just.. don't worry about it."

"Easy for you to say. You just have a clueless personality most of the time."

"That's fair; but if you really want a plan or want to get even deeper can it please wait until morning? You need rest to keep on healing and I have two interviews for some big jobs, could get us a lot of money. For the future. Our future."

"Okay..." Newt pressed his face into Thomas' chest, the tears seeping into the shirt. "I love you Tommy."

"I love you too."


	29. Chapter 28

"So you have knowledge of robotics, then?"

"Minor. I worked more on programming rather than implication."

"I see."

Thomas was his fourth interview, three days on, a job that involved robots in the pharmaceutical area. Now that the old cure -that none of the boys said wore off- was being implemented, research could go into robots to deliver cures and do the procedure, eradicating the risk of a person catching it.

They'd find out about it wearing off eventually, and Minho could possibly get into trouble because of it, but maybe by then WICKED would release their new one to the public. In fairness, it may wear off but Newt may have only caught it again because he was exposed while travelling since it's airborne, so maybe these people would be cured forever if they never got exposed again; if anything, all these scenarios made for good research opportunities; a lot more fruitful than whatever WICKED were trying to do the past few years.

Thomas was given an exercise, to program a robot to do simple tasks, and being able to do so surprised the employer. He received harder and harder tasks until Thomas was completing them better than the current employees, and when he finished he asked if there was more to come. "Well, son, I think you just nabbed yourself a job! When can you start?"

Thomas grinned and shook his hand. "As soon as you want me."

~*~

Newt leant against the worktop, knees pressed against the cupboards to keep himself balanced as he did the dishes in the sink to keep himself busy; since all the boys were always out at work to get as much money as they could on minimum wage, Newt basically became the cleaner. He hoped to join them all at some point, but doing what he hadn't decided yet, but the school route was sounding more and more interesting the more he thought about it. Technically, all ten of them were eligible for school because of their age, and nobody would complain much if they went back a couple of years. It all depended on what they all wanted to do with their lives.

Just a few months ago he'd been scared of what lay outside the glade, what the future held had been so unknown and after discovering his likelihood of becoming a goner, he gave up everything to focus on the present since he knew he'd probably die. Now, here he was, cleaning plates and waiting for his legs to work properly. What on earth could he do? All he ever did was do the gardening and manage people, but doing either of those things for a living would put him to sleep on the spot, he only did it because he had to. Now, he had a choice.

The front door opened and keys were dropped on the counter. A pair of arms snaked round Newt's waist and he smiled, receiving a kiss on the cheek. "You're late." Newt commented, continuing what he was doing.

"Well, my  _employer_ kept me late." Thomas grinned. "Guess who's better than the entire facility without any training?"

Newt gasped and spun round, pulling Thomas into a kiss. "Congratulations! I'm so proud of you." Newt beamed, resting his arms around his neck. "So you had your first day today? Even though the try out was this morning?"

"Mhm. He asked when I could start so I said whenever he wanted me, so he showed me to an empty office and let me set up! I haven't really done anything proper today, but I will tomorrow when they start me off easy again to make sure I wasn't faking anything."

"Were you?"

"Well I built two death traps before the age of fifteen, so I'm pretty sure that's the equivalent of hitting the books."

Newt chuckled and kissed him again, then just looked into his eyes. "I guess this is one step forward into our future, isn't it? What's the pay like? Any new beds for the others sometime soon?"

"I don't know, just that I'm going to definitely have the biggest income. As in, I'm going to be earning 30 grand a year! I don't really know if that's good or not, but in comparison to what everyone else is earning I'm pretty sure it's over double. I'm not really sure how the pound works anyway."

"You remember using another currency?"

"Not really. You remember, WICKED didn't exactly give us pocket money to take down to the shops and buy ourselves something. I just know other currencies exist."

Newt smiled. "Then maybe you should start hitting books all about where we actually are."

Thomas groaned. "You do it, you're the one in the flat all day just doing a chore every other hour." Newt glared at him. "Sorry, I meant that it's something you could in your spare time while you're unable to work. You keep saying how much you want to help, so why not tell us where the hell we are in the country. The world, even."

"And how am I supposed to do that? I can't exactly walk to the bookstore or the library to look for anything, and we don't have internet since none of us consider it a priority right now."

"I don't know. I make up the ideas, doesn't mean I execute them particularly well."

Newt just rolled his eyes at him so Thomas left him to continue cleaning after kissing him on the cheek. He wore a suit to his interview to try and impress, but now that he had a job he was told to just come in smart casual, and Thomas was so thankful because suits were just so  _uncomfortable._ They tugged in all the wrong places. Newt certainly didn't mind.

Later on, all the boys were in so they ordered a take out, and just like the glade they all sat in a circle on the floor and talked for hours. Even with their memories back, the glade remained most prominent and the ones before just seemed fake, so old habits died hard here. They were squirreling almost every penny anyway and only buying the absolutely necessary, but with the second monthly payment coming up Newt and Minho decided to make a list of expenditures and how to prioritise them; Thomas' new income was a big help, three meals a day were beginning to sound like reality.

A few were thinking of trying what Thomas did and finding better jobs than the tills at the local shop, even if it meant they sat at a desk all day, but it seemed nobody was being serious about the school route. Newt went quiet when they touched on the subject, so Thomas tried to bring it up later that night in bed. "I just didn't want to seem like an oddball." Newt whispered, not wanting to wake up the person on the floor again. "Sticking out never really goes well."

"What do you mean oddball? What were you thinking?"

"I wouldn't mind going to school.. I don't know what I want to do for a job, and maybe if I get a degree I'll have a lot more options to choose from. School would be a good way to learn about different jobs and subjects of learning, find something I actually enjoy. I don't remember my favourite subject from school anymore, but I doubt WICKED taught us a specific curriculum anyway. I just- I can't just go out there and pick something. I get it, money is the priority so what I do shouldn't matter, but we're doing pretty good and for god's sake we've certainly survived worse! The hungry shanks can wait a few years."

Well you should do what you want to do. If you want to spend the next few years learning then be our guest, find what you love and study it. I've been asking around and I hear degrees are super expensive but I don't know the ins and outs, I'm sure we could find a way to make it work though."

"There still so much damn stuff we need to learn. We've been thrown in the deep end."

"Yeah well like I said the other night, we'll take it as it comes, just like we have before. Okay?"

"Okay.." Thomas kissed the top of his head, trying to comfort him. "Love you, Tommy."

"Love you too."

~*~

Newt slammed the front door shut and stormed straight to the bedroom, slamming that door too. Only a couple of boys were home, Minho being one of them, so he went to see what the problem was. Newt was face down on the mattress, having thrown the pillows and duvet onto the floor so now he groaned into the sheet. "Somebody got stung by the wrong griever. What the hell's wrong with you?"

"The school won't take me."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have any parents, and because I don't have parents they need an orphanage, but when you tell them you live in a flat with a bunch of friends they don't like that!"

"Did you tell them about WICKED?"

"As if that would help. I was an accidental test subject doomed to die from the start. Thomas made the stuff, I can't use that excuse, I was used and abused and almost killed more times than I can count and sometimes trying it myself. I don't have anything for a job, and I know you guys don't either, but I want to study!"

"Try taking Arnold, he's got a beard and looks like he's almost thirty because of it, so pretend he's your guardian. Say you were embarrassed about having a single guardian."

"I can try. I'll be basically two years older than everyone there though, and probably dim because I refuse to start earlier in the school. I'm almost 17 while they're barely 16."

"Well you're not there to make friends, are you? Study."

"It could be up to three years. You guys would allow me to do that?"

"Of course. This is our lives now, we only live together because we can't afford to do otherwise. You'll end up leading your own life with Thomas, who is sadly our main source of income, but once we all get our own chances everyone will start to move out and whoever's left behind might keep this place or maybe none of us will. It all depends where we all work, but then again we all might live together till the day we die. Maybe WICKED will find us and kill us, we have no idea what could happen! You study as long as you want, it's your life now."

"Bloody hell I almost miss the gardens and grievers, it was so much less complicated, life was simple. We were given food, clothes, toiletries, and there weren't any girls or bad memories to plague us every night. The mystery of them is almost preferable. I thought I'd remember my parents more, but y'know I guess there isn't a lot to uncover. I don't even remember my own sister's name."

"Oh don't bring them up-"

"Why not? My sister is somewhere back at WICKED, she's immune like you guys. She probably doesn't know I exist, but have you been seeing all the WICKED posters around? People know about us, they don't know who we are, but I think WICKED want us back. We did kind of break out."

"She's in that third phase, right? Did Thomas ever tell you what exactly it was?" Newt shook his head. "Then maybe we ought to ask him. I mean, I still thinking they were messing with his head after the desert and those tablets. I bet he's still under it."

"What, a trance?"

"No, but something."

"Tommy wouldn't do that."

"Wouldn't he?"

~*~

Minho had gotten Newt paranoid now, growing wary whenever Thomas spoke about his job, as if he were secretly still working for WICKED and he was telling them everything the boys were doing and where they lived.  _Maybe this is the third trial, this whole place is a farce,_ Newt thought while eating dinner one night, only digging himself into a deeper hole. Why not just ask him?  _He'll just say no either way._

In bed, Newt brought it up. Despite still sharing the room, this always seemed to be where and when they discussed deep things; both half asleep. "Tommy I need to ask you something." Newt whispered, gently shaking his shoulder to make sure he was still awake.

"Hmm... what?" Thomas moaned, trying to bury his face back into the pillow. "Can't it wait till morning?"

"I'll go bloody crazy if I wait any longer. Minho and I were talking and started wondering about that third phase you and I found, since you never said what was in it. He thinks you're still in some sort of trance and I'm making myself more paranoid by the minute so please clear my head so I know you haven't secretly been working for WICKED this whole time."

"What? Oh bloody hell..." If Newt wasn't so tired and antsy, he would have snickered at Thomas using his mannerism. "Look- no, I'm not working for them, it's just a robotics company I found while looking across a vacancy section of a shop wall. I used the library computer to look them up, then rang up for an interview. As for the third phase.." He yawned. "Can I explain in the morning? I have to get up semi early everyday and it's a long story. Like I said back by that window, I don't know.. they had ideas bouncing around but I went in the maze before anything got finalised."

"I've got time."

"Yeah well I don't. Goodnight Newt, I'll explain in the morning..."

Thomas huffed, rolled over, and went straight back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, about a year ago when I wrote a crappy draft of this story of about half the length I actually had a third stage where everyone kinda goes crazy from their head implants and Minho kinda started killing everyone... yeah you can see why I scrapped the idea


	30. Chapter 29

The boys were all gathered in the living room again, because it seemed Newt and Thomas' 'roommate' overheard their conversation, so now Thomas had everyone whinging and whining for him to tell him about the third phase. Barely any of them knew that was why he almost stayed, and now everybody sounded like hungry puppies. It wasn't  _that_ interesting.

The main question seemed to be, "why have a third phase if they had a cure by the second?"

Minho asked it first, mouth full of lasagne. "To develop it." Thomas answered with a shrug. "WICKED knew as soon as we got the ingredients it was going to wear off, or maybe even not work at all. I didn't know that until the day after you all left because I was snooping around and overheard them discussing it, as I've already explained. The third trial was only put together as a just in case, to keep us busy and away from the darkness so they could develop it properly."

"Well, into what? And wouldn't I have died!?" Newt exclaimed.

"No, they'd have given you more unstable cure whether I had to steal it or force it off of them."

"Could we leave the third place!?" Someone else cried.

"No, but chances are I probably could."

"So what's there? Another maze? Caves? Ice?"

"They called it paradise. If you ever bothered reading a bible or during our super old religion classes, paradise was sort of wide open plains with a lake and the weather is normal, sort of, and we would just kinda.. live there. Like the glade, but there's no danger, because they knew you guys missed it so much."

"That doesn't sound like paradise at all!" A few boys exclaimed, "we'd remember our friends! We worked hard! WICKED couldn't sustain forever! It's terrible!"

They all started arguing at once so Thomas just ate quietly and waited for them to calm down or their questions to run out. "That's it really.. but there would be girls there, do any of you remember Teresa? It's her and a load of others," Thomas glanced at Newt, but he was looking at his food as he took out the peas. "Granted they all attacked me when I tried to leave, but they were going to get their memories back." Newt visibly perked. "That really is it, just a picturesque place to live until the cure was properly made."

"What about when WICKED died? They're all older than we are, they won't just be replaced to keep us alive!"

"Well no- they'd take us out when they developed the cure properly so we could distribute it."

"What about me?" Newt piped, "I couldn't distribute it, I'd only catch another mutation, and living in this city will make me wary my whole life."

"They do weekly checks, it's fine." Minho waved him off, "once you get a job or get to school you'll find that out."

Thomas was hesitating. "I don't know, guess you'd come with us. We didn't talk that far! Remember I was told none of this until after we got out that desert and I just watched the computers, they barely told me anything proper."

"And that's why we left."

People still asked him questions and Thomas just answered as best he could, since he honestly didn't know everything, and that annoyed some of the boys, so he ended up ignoring the angry ones.

Newt still wasn't convinced. Thomas spoke too casually, as if it didn't really matter, but back at WICKED Thomas had tried his hardest to convince Newt to stay and make the others do so too, but nothing that he'd said so far had sounded remotely hard enough for him to have been so passionate before.

Out of all the survivors, Thomas had spent the least amount of time in the glade by a fair few months so he didn't have anywhere near close the attachment to the others that they all had, so maybe his idea of paradise was just being somewhere safe. The city wasn't safe, it was reality. Thomas seemed strong; clueless, but strong.. but maybe he wasn't.

Newt pulled him out the room for a private chat, shutting the door behind them. "Tommy, are you hiding something?" He asked, leaning against the wall.

"No, why?"

"Just.." Newt shrugged. "I guess you were just so adamant on making me stay before, but you told that story without the slightest hint of you wishing you'd stayed. Which is weird considering the amount of arguing we did over a matter of a few days about me staying or going."

"You really think they'd appreciate me trying to tell them they're still wrong? I'm sure at least a couple of them don't like me. I don't think telling them they made a bad decision will particularly help my case."

"So you regret coming to the city?"

"Well no, you just left earlier than I wouldn't liked. Everything was so planned out and for once in our lives we'd merge with girls our age. We would live together, there would probably be romance, Minho seems like he'd be a pretty big player, but instead you all chose this. WICKED aren't as mad as you think, they thought you might leave and they hoped at least one of us would stay so when I left they made all the girls try to stop me."

Newt sighed and looked down at the floor. "I'm just not convinced you're telling us everything."

"I don't get why you're so paranoid though? I've told you everything you wanted to know. The third 'trial' was going to be short, my boss isn't from WICKED, but I'm not really sure how I could prove that to you. If he was, like that other guy he'd try to take my back to WICKED, not distribute robots to help the sick. WICKED are far too selfish to care about the general public."

"Didn't you use the only working one on me?" Thomas paused. "You bleeding idiot!"

"I couldn't exactly take half of it! I just grabbed a syringe and made a run for the nearest exit! Then I jabbed it into you while you were trying to kill me and voila you're not dead!  _You're welcome."_

"I'm not saying I'm ungrateful for what you did, I'm just saying what happens now regarding cures!? The doctors have a faulty one and they could well come after us if and when they find out it wears off! How do we know WICKED can just make more of this new cure if you took their only specimen?"

"Can't be too hard, I doubt they made it on a whim. You're getting worked up over nothing, I'm done talking about this. The others, however, have yet to shut up, so do excuse me."

Thomas returned to the living and Newt followed not far behind, but he sat on the opposite side of the room.

~*~

Newt was with Arnold, going to the best free school nearby. Newt had looked all the local ones up, and it seemed private schools were the best thing but the price for just one year made Newt's eyes water, so a grammar school seemed to be the next best thing. None of the boys knew what that meant, but Newt deemed it good enough for himself.

With his beard and some fake glasses they'd bought, Arnold looked like he was nearly thirty and because of it he planned to shave after this was sorted, because it was embarrassing to look almost double his actual age. "Pray this works.." Newt muttered, going through the front door.

Arnold put on a slightly deeper voice, and it actually managed to get himself and Newt a meeting with the headmaster. Arnold explained that due to Newt closely becoming a goner he lost most of his memories and since they'd moved to the city for a fresh start.

It seemed to work, and the headmaster began talking to Newt. "So what do you remember? If anything?" He asked, seeming to be intrigued by the story.

Perhaps luckily for Newt, he just pretended his only memories were the ones WICKED gave back to him, so the early memories really weren;t there. "I don't really remember learning anything since I was.. maybe 12? I'm almost 17 now, but I think my knowledge is good? I can do the work, I just don't remember ever learning it."

"How interesting. So what year do you want to come into? You know how the schools work?"

"I think 11? I think I'm supposed to be in the one above that, but I just want to get all the qualifications I can, even if I'm older than everyone else."

"Well you're too young to remember, but when this all broke out, even before the darkness started spreading, the whole world just came to a halt. Schools were shut, work, even the internet and cell service just all shut down. When things finally calmed down and cities like this got built, we had people in their twenties coming back to study because of course despite everything going on outside the world must go on as normal and you need qualifications for a job just like you said. Do you plan to go to university?"

"M-maybe? I haven't really thought that far ahead, I don't remember anything about what people or do, or where the money to afford it comes from.." Newt glanced at Arnold. "My friends, at my old house, they all have part time jobs instead of going to school but I want to study instead. Now that I'm cured I want to live life to the fullest, I feel really lucky."

The headmaster smiled and sat back in his seat. "Well if you didn't know, there is an entrance exam you need to pass to get into this school, but I'm sure your guardian can do all the hefty paperwork for you. If you pass, then we can talk more from there to see if we can get you in the for the next academic year."

"When is that?"

"September." It was June. "I know that seems a while away but I'm afraid it's the quickest we can do."

"Th-that's okay. I'm sure I can entertain myself, and do some reading to catch up."

"Good man!" The headmaster laughed.

Arnold faked some paperwork and made note to remember everything he wrote down so he could use it again without giving away that he was actually 19, not 35.

When they finally left and seemed to have tricked everyone, they high fived.

~*~

Thomas asked how it went when he got back from work that evening, but Newt completely blanked him. They hadn't spoken in a week, it made sleeping extremely awkward, and people were worried they were going to break up.

Newt was just so deep in this hole he'd created for himself, and for once Thomas wasn't in the wrong, so even Minho couldn't convince him otherwise, he was so set on thinking Thomas was still hiding something. "How about I just go back to WICKED, will that make you happy!? That'll make your crazy theory reality!" Thomas yelled.

They were arguing in the bedroom with the door closed, but the boys who were also in the flat could still hear them once their voices started escalating. "No that's a stupid idea! I just think that you're hiding something! There's just no way in hell that you would be so passionate about something and then come to the city like it was no big deal! It's not like you!"

"Would you rather be dead!?"

"Oh so I'm the only reason you came? If you never found out that cure wore off, or if it didn't you wouldn't have come!? It wasn't because you wanted to at all!"

"Well I'm sorry for not wanting you dead! But yeah! Fine! I would have stayed if I hadn't gone snooping around!"

"Oh bloody hell- you know what!? This is all your fucking fault! If you never came to the glade then none of this would have happened! We could all still be back there living simple lives! Without  _you!"_

"So you wish I'd never come into your life?"

"Yeah! I do! I wish we'd never become friends in the first place!"

Thomas winced. Newt really hated him right now, but he was right about everything being Thomas' fault, because if he never came to the glade they probably would still be looking for an exit. "Okay." Thomas sighed, trying to keep composure. "Then I'll leave your life. All your damn lives! You can pretend I never came into it, I'll just take my money, and  _go!_ You can pretend you never got your memories back, that you never met me in the first place."

Newt gestured towards the door. "Be my guest, Thomas."

Thomas stood up close, a finger pointing right at Newt's face. "I hope the thinking about us before the maze, when things were good, when things were alright, those happy memories? I hope they haunt you."

 _"Goodbye,_ Thomas."

Thomas huffed and stormed out, heading straight out the front door, and leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg there's only five chapters left of this ;-; I guess that's a whole month but still..


	31. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I'm sorry for disappearing for absolutely forever. Work work work work and more work! My other fic hasn't been updated either since, so don't feel left out. I'm sorry <3 

_Five weeks later_

Exam time. Newt had to take a maths, English, and some sort of general IQ test, but there wasn't much elaboration as to what was on any of them. He didn't really study for them, he didn't know how, but he tried looking into things at the library because the things he needed to buy were so  _expensive._ If he made it in it was going to be hard to afford uniform, especially after Thomas walked out.

A couple of the boys tried to find him, but in over a month nobody had managed to cross paths with him. They didn't know if he was living on the streets by himself, or if he'd already found himself somewhere else to live, in which would mean he didn't plan on coming back. Newt regretted the argument only a few days after it happened and helped the others trying to find him, but nobody knew where his work was either, not even a company name.

Newt arrived at the school with just a pen and pencil, he didn't know what else he should bring. He sat in the headmaster's office and they gave him the missing tools like a calculator, but the actual exam was set earlier in the year but they made an exception for him thanks to the story. Newt hoped to get a summer job now that he had free time, but he didn't know how much catching up there was to do.

The exams took all morning and slightly into the afternoon, but Newt was leaving just as the other students were coming outside for their lunch break. They hadn't been hard in the slightest, Newt remembered doing this stuff back at WICKED. Thomas had said they were chosen for certain reasons, but Newt was there on accident, so was he special like everyone else? The others were all child prodigies, and Newt had kept up with the work, so was he prodigy too? Then again, Thomas and Teresa were on top of the food chain, so just how smart were those two?

He was slowly making his way back to the flat, a little over a half hour walk since public transport wasn't worth the expense; not yet, anyway. He looked up, about to check where he was going but saw someone coming out of a shop just ahead instead; they were wearing sunglasses, a tee that had a few stains on it, and skinny jeans with some simple trainers. "Thomas?" He called and the person spun around, stopping their walking. "Wow, you look different."

"And you look the same." Thomas said through gritted teeth, clearly wanting to leave. "What do you want?"

"I-I.. I want to talk to you, if anything. Where have you been!? Everyone is worried about you! Are you on the streets? Why do you have sunglasses? What are those stains? Why are you still mad at me?"

Thomas sighed. "I'm on my lunch break, I don't have time to answer your questions."

"Then I'll walk back with you."

"No visitors."

"Then we can meet up! Thomas started walking away. "Tommy, please!" He stopped again, waiting for Newt to jog up beside him. "I just want to talk, please, let me do that if nothing else."

Thomas sighed, looking him up and down then seeing the pen and pencil in his hand. "Where have you been?"

"My school exam. Really easy."

"Hm. Good to hear.. Okay, fine. Meet me in our alley at 5:30, we can talk there."

"Why not just come back?"

"Do you want to talk or not?" Newt didn't answer. "I'll see you then."

~*~

Newt told everyone that he bumped into him, and they all wanted to go with him and bombard him with questions again, but Newt had to warn them that if anybody went with him then Thomas would probably just turn and leave, so they all gave him questions to ask in their places, but Newt planned to ask most of them anyway.

He arrived a few minutes early and he got to watch Thomas approach, sunglasses gone and his top was different. "What happened to the sunglasses?" Newt asked, trying to start the conversation easy.

"Not sunglasses, they're special glasses that stopped certain lights hurting my eyes, since I was looking inside of robots today."

"That sounds really cool..." Awkward silence. "So.. what have you been doing for five weeks? Are you in the streets?"

"No, I share with some guy. Two bed flat. I've just been working, saving money for somewhere better."

"Does that mean you didn't plan on coming back?" Newt started to fidget with his fingers. "People looked for you and I joined them after a few days when I snapped out of it, but everyone actually misses you. Except you have your own place.. sort of."

"I mean.." Thomas sighed. "No, I didn't."

"So.. we've been broken up, for five weeks?"

"You got mad at me."

"I never said it was over! You walked out and never came back!"

"Well it was sure implied." Newt rolled his eyes. "What have you been doing?"

"Nothing. Took my exam today, was easy, now I just wait for results and they tell me I can start next year in September with people the year below me. Not too old."

"Good. Good."

This was extremely awkward. Newt looked down at the ground and Thomas was looking the other way out at the street, watching cars go by. "Are we finished?" Newt mumbled.

"Talking?"

"Relationship... should I consider us apart? Will you never come back and speak to the guys again? Minho? They don't.. blame you like I did. I don't anymore, I felt like crap after about three days and... I'm sorry."

"I don't know, Newt. It's not a nice feeling to explain everything you know but the only person you hold close and dear doesn't believe you and tells you to leave their life and that they wish they couldn't remember you. I saw my mum shot, I watched my dad die, and I was an only child. You come along and we get so close, like another family member, so we dated, and then... you have the nerve to say that to me. If I never came to the city you'd be dead, or worse you'd still be wandering around out there."

"And you'd be surrounded by girls when you're gay." Thomas' lip twitched in a tiny smile at the comment. "But I really, really am sorry. I miss you, and the bed feels so empty without you."

Thomas bit his lip, rocking back on his heels. "I have a double bed." Newt glanced up at him. "Want to crash? I've got pizza."

Newt blushed. This was technically a date. "Okay."

~*~

They forgot to close the curtains. Thomas got woken by the rays of light, Newt buried in his chest with his back to the window. He could bother to get up and fix it, or he could let Newt continue sleeping. What time was it? Did he have work today?

Thomas reached forward and picked up his calendar, but thankfully today was now Saturday so he wasn't going to bother going in. It was also still relatively early, so maybe he should get up and fix the curtains. Choosing sleep, Thomas detached himself from Newt and got up, taking the couple steps to the window and shutting the curtains. He walked back and almost tripped, so he kicked off the underwear that got caught on his foot.

He got back in bed and tried to get comfy, but he heard Newt giggle which meant that he was awake. Thomas grumbled. "Morning."

Newt smiled and put his head properly on the pillow and looked at him. "Morning. Sleep well?"

"The sun woke me and I was planning to go back to sleep. Now you're awake."

"Sorry." Newt pecked him on the lips. "Go back to sleep."

"No.. it's fine."

Newt smiled wider and started to draw circles on Thomas' chest with his finger. "I swear it's always you getting me to do this stuff, like back in that cupboard. You totally started it."

Thomas chuckled. "You're the one who kissed me."

"You're the one pulled me into your lap."

"You're the one who took my shirt off."

"You're the one who put your hand in-"

"Okay you win." Newt laughed, then blushed. "I was stupid to stay mad at you, I know you didn't mean it."

"What if I did? I know I don't now, but.. I'm sorry for saying it all."

"It's fine, really. I forgive you." Thomas kissed him. "Y'know you could probably live here."

"W-what!?"

"What? The others have been thinking we'd be doing it for ages."

"But.." Newt looked unsure. "You wouldn't understand. Plus none of them know we're back together now."

"Try me."

"Well.. I know I've got my memories and everything, but you know how some are more prominent than others? Mine are of the glade, because so much shit happened in there, and all the guys, all the ones I've lost.. they're family to me."

"You'd move out of your family home one day if you grew up normally."

"It's just not the same. Don't get me wrong, I would love to live with you despite how sudden this all is- and a bigger bed! There's no need to be so quiet when we get  _busy_ , but they're my friends.."

"Well I'm not going to force you into anything, but like you say there's a bigger bed, better and more food, and your school is only five minutes from here since we're on the other side of town. Why not ask the guys, yeah? See what they say."

"Okay.."

~*~

Nobody was in when Newt got back, so he went into the kitchen to see what kind of mess they'd left for him to clean up. Even though he was now busy with studying he was still their unpaid maid since he spent the most time in the flat.

Newt spent a lot of time in the library, and he enjoyed how quiet it was, able to sit in the corner and read whatever he wanted for a couple of hours. He never took books out, the boys would probably ruin them by accident and they could not afford the fees, so he just stopped at certain chapters and hoped nobody would take them out while he was gone.

Without Newt around this place would be an absolute mess, cleaning up all their dishes and laundry like he was their mother.  _The glue holding everyone together._ Thomas said that to him once, apparently that's what WICKED thought he was.  _More like the glue that stops this place becoming a pig sty,_ Newt thought to himself, grinning.

Maybe he could leave detailed instructions on things for the boys to follow if and when he left to be with Thomas, that might stop them all turning into slobs. Maybe.

Minho came in the front door and called out, "who's back?"

"Me!" Newt answered, putting some cups away in a cupboard.

Minho practically sprinted to the kitchen, running smack into a worktop and clutched his hip. "Where have you been!?" He hissed through gritted teeth, groaning in pain. "Did you stay with Thomas?"

"You could say that." Newt blushed. "We've fixed things if that's what you mean; but yeah I stayed the night with him. He has a double bed! It's so spacious!"

Minho laughed. "Well why not move in with him!?" Newt didn't say anything. "Oh you actually might, okay-"

"That's mostly why I came back, to ask you about it. I know it's life, but I wanted to ask everyone if they were okay with it. You mostly, because you're my best friend."

"I thought Thomas was your best friend."

"Boyfriend by default."

"Fair enough. Well.."

"If you meet a girl someday you'd move out and live with her, right? Thomas is just the first one to offer.. and he's sharing with a stranger but he can support us both."

"I suppose you'll be one less mouth to feed and we won't be losing any money. Okay, I'll give you my permission to go on one condition." He smirked. "You tell the others that I get the bed."

Newt knew that wasn't going to be easy. "Okay, deal."


End file.
